"It was a great gesture from the world number one" - Gian van Veen recalls Luke Humphries class after recent Players Championship final

Gian van Veen has had an incredible week. On Tuesday, he reached the final of the fifth Players Championship event of the year, narrowly losing 8-7 to Joe Cullen. However, just a day later, he made up for it in Players Championship 6, defeating former world champion Luke Humphries 8-3 in the final.

Before his match against Humphries, Van Veen had a brief chat with his opponent. “He told me beforehand that he knew how tough it was to play at this level over two days because he had experienced it himself,” Van Veen told De Telegraaf. “He said, ‘You really deserve to win one.’ So I jokingly asked him if he was going to let me win, but of course, that wasn’t going to happen. After the match, his reaction was truly genuine. He was really happy for me, even though it must have stung a little for him. It was a great gesture from the world number one.”

Van Veen has been in excellent form for some time. “Everyone kept saying, ‘It’s time you won a title,’ but that’s easier said than done. It just meant I had two steady years without any major breakthroughs. Then, when you miss six match darts, people start saying, ‘You had another great tournament, but you just can’t get over the line.’ So it felt great to get it done just 24 hours later.”

The 22-year-old from Poederoijen has been consistently producing high averages in recent months, but he has often run into opponents playing the match of their lives against him. “That will probably be the case even more after this past week,” he said. “People often ask how I can lose so much while throwing such high averages. Just last weekend at the Belgian Darts Open, I lost with a 105 average—against Gerwyn Price, who posted an incredible 112.4. It happened a bit too often that I played brilliantly but still lost. So it means a lot that I’ve now managed to get over the line.”

Winning his first ranking final against none other than Humphries, the current world number one, must have been especially satisfying for Van Veen. “A thousand percent! It doesn’t get much tougher than playing Humphries. Before this, I had lost three finals—twice to Price and once to Van Gerwen. Against Cullen, I thought I had a real chance to win, with all due respect. This time, I was 7-3 up, but against Cullen, I was 7-4 ahead and still lost... At that moment, you can’t help but think, ‘Surely not again?’ Humphries can reel off five legs in a row with a few 12- or 13-darters—he’s just that good. So it felt even better when my first match dart went straight in. The entire world’s top players were competing this week, and in two days, I beat the top three in the world.” Laughing, he added, “That doesn’t happen every day! There’s almost no better way to confirm my progress.”

Now, the question is whether this is just the beginning for Van Veen. “We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s clear that things are going brilliantly this year. I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead. But I’m not suddenly going to start acting differently on stage, don’t worry!”