"Rushing back was maybe something I shouldn't have done in hindsight" - Gian van Veen's poor form stemmed from early Premier League return after health issues

Gian van Veen has struggled for form in recent times. While not at his overall best against Daniel Larsson in the Nordic Darts masters, he still proved to be good enough to defeat the Swede 6-3.

'The Giant' averaged a respectable 95.83 but missed a whopping 15 darts at double in an uncharacteristic manner. “It's been okay,” he ruefully admitted in his press conference after the win in Copenhagen.

“The last couple of weeks or month have been a bit difficult for me, but I'm just happy with any win I can get at the moment. Today I switched back to my old darts and it felt okay. Scoring-wise, it was a bit up and down. I missed a lot of doubles, but I'm happy to get the win with the 167 checkout.”

That outshot was the moment of the match, and sealed the victory in fine fashion. It was a welcoming sense of relief and joy in a match where doubles were hard to come by for someone who has built a reputation of being one of the best finishers in the world.

“As I said, I switched back to my old darts. I haven't played with these for the last six weeks, so I probably didn't have the full confidence in them that I had a couple of weeks ago. I think it's normal to miss that amount of doubles, but of course it's frustrating. I know I need to put that right for tomorrow, but today I'm just really happy with the win.”

He continued to talk about his darts. “For now, it's something I've been dealing with together with Red Dragon. They gave me the darts I was using before, the black ones. I like the grip very much, but the nose of the barrel was a bit different. They're going to get that changed now, but it's going to take some days or weeks to get them all the way from the factory in Kenya back into my hands.

“So I'm playing with these for now, but I'm hoping to get back to the black ones with the grip and the different nose of the barrel. With the way I was throwing my darts, they weren't landing in the board as I wanted them to. I had a lot of bounce-outs, especially last week on the floor. So I thought, ‘Okay, change back to the old darts for now,’ and then we'll see over the next couple of weeks.”

It does not get much easier than who is next in line. World number two Luke Humphries is his quarter-final opponent and is looking back to his best. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ is scoring magnificently, but doubles have been what has halted his progress. Now they seem to be finding their way into the target on a more regular basis which is a bad sign for anyone facing him.

Last night, he averaged a whopping 109.92 enroute to defeating recent ProTour winner Jeffrey de Graaf 6-3 while pinning 67% of his doubles. Van Veen knew what a tough task this could be, labelling him as the ‘favourite.’

“No, definitely not. But with the form I'm in at the moment, I'm really happy with this first win and this moment, even though I'm number three in the world. We'll see where we can go. Luke is in fantastic form. He showed it in the Premier League and he showed it again today against Geoffrey de Graaf. He'll probably be the favourite tomorrow, but I'm just going to enjoy it and hopefully I can cause some damage.”

The pair faced off four times in the Premier League, with Humphries leaving the stage as the winner on every occasion. He has lost some damaging defeats in the past to van Veen, which included the quarter-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship and the final of the European Darts Championship where he missed a match dart. However, the tables have turned after van Veen’s frustrating second half to his debut Premier League campaign.

He is starting to feel like himself once more after suffering with prior health issues. “Maybe a little bit. Not physically. I think physically I'm back to 100%,” he said. “But mentally, rushing back was maybe something I shouldn't have done in hindsight. With the schedule we have, especially with the Premier League going on, you can't take two or three weeks off because you're out of the play-offs, you're out of the European Tours and the ProTours.

“So I rushed back. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but now I feel physically 100 per cent. I feel good. Losing that many games because of rushing back probably damaged me more than I would have hoped, but it's part of the game and I'm really happy to be winning some matches again.”

He was all new to this and admitted that it was a huge learning curve for him to traverse. “Even though I was number three in the world going into it, I always felt like it was my first time and that I was still there to learn. I wasn't expecting myself to get to The O2.

“Especially with everything that happened during those 16 weeks and the physical issues I had, I was happy to still be in contention after 14 weeks. Looking back on it, it was a massive learning curve and a massive experience playing in all those big crowds and venues. Even though I finished seventh in the end, I'm quite satisfied with my Premier League campaign.”

Now in the Premier League, he is playing in so many more tournaments and travelling around the world much more with World Series, European Tour and Players Championship events still being regularly played. “I don't mind spending time at the airport. The hotels are a bit of a different story,” he explained.

“It's difficult going from hotel to hotel and sleeping in a different bed every night. I think all darts players understand that, but people outside darts don't realise that in two weeks' time you can sleep in nine different beds. That's going to have an effect on every human being, and it's the same for most darts players. Looking back on it now, it's been a fantastic Premier League for me. Even though the results weren't always there, I still enjoyed it. I even enjoyed the travelling. I don't have any regrets.”

Once the Nordic Darts Masters have come to an end, van Veen will get on his country’s garments and battle out for glory in the World Cup of Darts. He will not only partner Michael van Gerwen, he will lead them out as team captain being the higher ranked player.

This did not fit right with him. “On ranking, yes. On persona, no. It's a tournament I played in last year with Danny Noppert, and I lost every leg and every match on that stage. I'm really looking forward to getting back there.

“This year, of course, it's going to be very different with Michael. Danny and I know each other's games inside out and know each other really well. With Michael it's going to be different, but I still think we're going to click on that stage. We're going to do really well and hopefully on Sunday evening we'll be lifting that trophy.”

Van Gerwen has only competed at the World Cup once in the prior four editions, losing in the second round of the 2024 tournament. Van Veen made his debut las year alongside Danny Noppert as the three-time champion opted to pull out. This year is different with a sense of excitement to be partnering a new teammate.

“If Michael didn't fancy it, he could easily have pulled out because that's what he's done in the past couple of years. He said to me, ‘I don't know what it's like to play with you, so I want to give that a go.’ He also told me today that he's really looking forward to it,” van Veen recalled.

“Hopefully it's going to be a great weekend next week. But I know that if Michael and I are allowed to play together again next year and he pulls out, then I didn't do well enough this weekend. So there'll be some pressure, but I'm just going to enjoy it and hopefully it's going to be a great one.”