"This is a setback, 100%" - Gian van Veen rues more World Darts Championship disappointment

For Gian van Veen, his PDC World Darts Championship campaign has ended in a major disappointment for the second year in a row. After losing to Man Lok Leung in his opening match last year, this time Ricardo Pietreczko was the culprit.

Van Veen struggled throughout the match to get his first dart into the treble 20. "That was actually the story of this match," he ruefully said afterwards to Viaplay. "It was down to my first dart, I couldn't build on that. The switch to other numbers didn't go well either. Unbelievable. Lately the 180 scores were flying in and now I only threw one. That says it all."

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"I wasn't good enough," Van Veen continued. "I knew beforehand that he (Pietreczko, ed.) was good finishing-wise, so scoring-wise I had to be the better one. But I wasn't. I felt so good beforehand, but it wasn't to be."

Van Veen, therefore, bitterly regrets being stranded again in his first assignment at the World Darts Championship. "This is a setback, one hundred percent. I have a plan where I want to go in my career. That includes a World Championship. Lie out again in the first game.... There's work to do, but it will be fine."

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