"Too much pressure is put on young talents too soon" - Gian van Veen and Wessel Nijman amongst bookies favourites for World Darts Championship but keen to ease expectations

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries are the two top favourites to win the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. But with Gian van Veen and Wessel Nijman, the betting shops are also putting two young Dutchmen amongst the contenders.

Van Veen (22) and Nijman (24) have known each other for some time. "I can remember a Polish Open where we were in the same pool," Van Veen told AD.nl. Actually, we only met each other on the Development Tour the year after my suspension. It was always Gian, Luke Littler and I who made the finals. It was waiting until we met, then the tournament was decided", adds Nijman.

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Van Veen is currently in the second year of his Tour Card, Nijman in his first. "My first year was high-profile because of my European Championship, where I beat Van Gerwen in the quarterfinals. Such a good run on a major is something Wessel still lacks, but other than that I think he is further along than I was last year. In terms of consistency anyway and he has won a Players Championship. That does not surprise me. I know how great he can play, but I didn't expect him to recover so quickly after everything that happened," says Van Veen.

Nijman was suspended for two and a half years in 2020 for match-fixing, but then returned stronger than ever. "Sometimes it's very brief, but it ebbs away quickly. My results are more of a hot topic. I think I can be proud of that. I'm very happy that I don't have to talk about that shit anymore and that it happened by my own merits."

Still, Nijman did not expect to see results so soon after his suspension. "No, and certainly not after one year. Winning makes it fun so I got the fun back quickly. I think I like darts more now than before my suspension. Also because I came from far away."

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Many players have nicknames, but Nijman doesn't have much need for them. "I prefer to stay in the background, honestly. Becoming a type, grown men with nicknames ... I'm too down-to-earth for that. If people feel the need to give me a nickname, that's fine, but the chances are slim that I'm going to go public with it."

Wessel Nijman won his first PDC ranking title this year

"I try to do social media well for my sponsors, but I don't see myself becoming a Stephen Bunting riding his bike in pajamas for TikTok," adds Van Veen. "I often got proposals in terms of walk on songs in combination with my aviation studies, but I think you force too much then. Come World Championship I do have a specially made song number by Russo, Donnie and Marco Schuitmaker."

The betting shops place Nijman at 6 and Van Veen at 9 in terms of favourites for this World Darts Championship. "I can't say that's totally justified, that's ridiculously high," Nijman said. "Doesn't make any sense. So there are five players more likely to win the title than me? I think very few people would agree with that. People say I have a good draw, but last year I was also favored in the first round against Steve Beaton by the bookies."

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These days, pressure comes quickly on young talents. "If you do a few good things, it's immediately, 'oh, this is the new...' Last year I really suffered from those expectations. I put too much pressure on myself," Van Veen said. "When I felt it slipping away in that first round, it was always haunting my head: shit, everyone expects me to win. But mentally I've grown. This year I plan to approach things differently. Last year I had seven men with me to the World Championship and they were also in the throwing-in room. That came at the expense of my preparation. I felt like: they are here for me so I have to be social. You want to show everything, because you never know how often you experience it. I'm doing that differently this year."

"I recognize that," Nijman said. "This year my parents, brother and girlfriend are going with me, but last year I also had three friends with me. I found that very crowded. You want to share the success, but that throw-in space is not spacious at all. If everyone brings five people, it looks like a full pub. Now it's nice that you've been there before. Last year I was relaxed all the time, but towards the walk-on I suddenly got really nervous. Mentally I'm in a different place now too."

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