Gian Van Veen only captured his PDC Tour Card at the beginning of this year, but in recent months he has already made a special impression.
The 21-year-old Van Veen graduated last summer and currently works part-time at a company that sells cargo space in airplanes. At the end of the year, however, he is already saying goodbye to his office near Schiphol: "I don't need it financially anymore. I can make ends meet from darts now," Van Veen said to Omroep Gelderland.
Van Veen has been doing extremely well lately. In his debut year with the PDC he climbed to 52nd in the world rankings and reached the semifinals of the European Championship last weekend. I didn't expect it, but it didn't come out of nowhere."
On Sunday, November 26, Van Veen will take on Luke Littler in the final of the Youth World Cup. "It's a nice prize to have on your record, but it's a bit double. My biggest focus is still the big world championship."
"I want to get through the first round at least in Alexandra Palace," Van Veen continued. "After that, we'll see. I look at it from match to match. I'm working on it as little as possible and want to show what I can do. I also have to be able to keep it up, otherwise you don't have anything yet."
Darteritus
For Van Veen, this is actually all a bonus after he struggled with dartitis several years ago. "It's a mental block, a kind of fear of failure. You don't dare let go of the arrow because you think and you know you'll miss. It took psychologists and mental coaches, but the ultimate solution was winning matches. Despite suffering from it, I did get better. Winning matches brought the self-confidence back."
Danny Noppert & Damon Heta were among the eight players to secure their place in the 2023 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts at Friday's Tour Card Holder Qualifier. The 32-player field has now been finalised, with the draw set to take place on Monday! 👉 bit.ly/23GSODField
