“It’s not going to be very friendly between us for a while” - Van Veen bites back after bust-up with Littler; ‘The Nuke’ responds on social media

The ninth night of 2026 Premier League Darts season saw Gian van Veen reach another final, but no nightly win. In the decider, Gerwyn Price proved far too strong. Yet on Viaplay afterwards, at least as much attention went to the evening’s most striking incident: the flare-up with Luke Littler in the quarterfinals.

Van Veen looked back on his night with mixed feelings. “Of course you’re gutted about the final,” he admitted. “But if you know beforehand that you’re facing Littler first, that’s the most important match of the night. You want to win that one. Everything after that is basically a bonus.”

He cleared that first hurdle and laid the foundation for a strong night. “Then you also win your semifinal, but in the final it just wasn’t good enough."

"Scoring wasn’t great all night, although I did finish well," he added. "Only, yes, if you’re hit twice with a 128 checkout, it’s over quickly.”

That Van Veen reached the final at all was an achievement given his physical state. The Dutchman has been dealing with kidney stones in recent weeks and still noticed it on stage.

“I actually felt it already against Josh Rock,” he explained. “I went 3-2 up and in those first legs I felt good, my focus was really good. But after that I got a bit dizzy and my focus went quickly. Then I thought: this is going to be tough.”

He still dragged that match over the line thanks to his finishing. “You hit a few good finishes and still win it. After that you’re lucky to have another fifteen or twenty minutes to get back into it, and that worked. In the final I no longer had issues with that, but the level just had to be better.”

For his position in the standings, he picked up some much-needed points. He also noticed that, so far, it has often been all or nothing in his Premier League campaign to date. “Either I lose the quarterfinal or I lose the final. As long as I win the quarterfinal, then at least I’ve had a decent night. The quarterfinal is actually more important than the semifinal when you look at the ranking.”

His message for the coming weeks is clear: “From now on it’s simple: win quarterfinals. If you do that every week, the rest will follow.”

Still, the post-match focus was mainly on his quarterfinal clash with Littler. At the end of that match there was a visible moment of irritation between the two players. Littler is said to have celebrated after a miss by the Dutchman, which drew a surprised reaction from him during the match. The 19-year-old world champion took exception and made several gestures toward Van Veen. After ‘The Giant’ hit the winning double, it continued briefly on stage.

They have had no contact since. “No, we haven’t spoken,” Van Veen said firmly. “He hasn’t approached me either. I saw his reaction on social media; he thought it was funny. Well, I don’t think things will be very friendly between us anytime soon.”

The Dutchman made it clear he is not bothered. “I’m here for myself. He’s a fantastic darter, the world number one, so what he does for the sport is great. But I care little about what he thinks of me.”

On social media, Van Veen received striking support from fans, something he noticed. “Yes, I saw that too. Look, I tell it how it feels to me. And if I see people backing me, that’s obviously nice. But in the end it doesn’t matter that much.”

Despite the lost final, the feeling persists that Van Veen has taken important points in the race for the playoffs. Looking ahead to the next night in Brighton, a tantalizing Dutch showdown with Michael van Gerwen awaits.

“That will be an important match,” he said in preview. “My leg difference isn’t great, so I just have to keep winning matches. Hopefully Michael will have to give way next week.”

Luke Littler himself has not yet responded publicly to the incident, but as mentioned above he did post on his Instagram Stories afterwards. ‘The Nuke’ first shared a screenshot of his honors list with the caption “goodnight godbless thankyou manchester.”

Not much later, after Van Veen had already given his take on the incident to the English media, he posted another screenshot of the Dutchman’s reaction with a number of laughing emojis. He seemed keen to make clear that he found Van Veen’s reaction laughable and clearly disagreed with it. An official response, however, is still pending.