‘I wish I’d missed’ – Gian van Veen convinced nine-darter ‘cost me the final’ in gut-wrenching Luke Littler defeat

There are moments in sport when the greatest thing you have ever done becomes the worst thing you could possibly have done. For Gian van Veen, that moment came in the fifth leg of the inaugural Poland Darts Open final in Kraków — and he knows it.

Van Veen landed his first ever televised nine-darter against Luke Littler, finishing off back-to-back maximum visits with a composed 141 checkout to land double 12 and send the capacity crowd at the EXPO Kraków into absolute bedlam. The Dutchman led 3-2 in the final. The moment was extraordinary. And then everything unravelled.

Littler, who had been watching from the other end of the stage, immediately identified what was happening. “All weekend I’d gone off 180 and I’d wanted to go back-to-back to have a shot myself,” he said, “but when Gian hit it, in my head I was like ‘let’s get him now while he’s a bit tired’. In the past, people have hit nine-darters against me and it’s a big achievement — it’s not easy to do. In the final, so early, I was like just go for him now while he’s a bit overwhelmed.”

That is precisely what he did. Littler immediately broke van Veen’s throw in leg six and won four of the next five legs to move into commanding control. The Dutchman briefly cut the deficit back to two, but it was too late. Littler won 8-4, averaged 108.06 and hit seven maximums — his fifth European Tour title, claimed in front of a packed Polish crowd who had been treated to one of the most dramatic swings in recent memory.

Van Veen, to his credit, was entirely candid about what had happened to him. “I wish I missed that double 12,” he said with a rueful smile. “Of course I’m very happy to hit the nine-darter, but I think everyone noticed — in the next two or three legs, I wasn’t good. I was so excited about the nine-darter — my first one on the stage — and that probably cost me the final today. Fair play to Luke. As he said, that spurred him on. That’s how he reads the game, and that’s why he is world number one.”

It is a remarkable thing to find yourself saying. The perfect leg — 9 darts, 501, the purest expression of what the sport can be — delivered at the highest level, on the biggest stage, for the first time in a career, and the honest conclusion is that it would have been better to miss. The adrenaline, the elation, the crowd’s roar — all of it conspired to leave Van Veen playing in a different mental state than the one the moment required, and Littler, with predator’s instincts, sensed it immediately.

It was a painful ending to what had otherwise been a superb weekend for the Dutch number one. He had beaten Nathan Aspinall 6-5 from 4-2 down on Finals Day to reach the quarter-finals, then dismantled Wessel Nijman 6-2, before coming from behind to defeat Luke Humphries 7-5 in the semi-finals — a result that extended his dominant recent record against the former world champion, who had missed eight match darts in a single leg to hand van Veen the foothold he needed. The form was there. The occasion was there. The nine-darter was there. And then Littler was there.

This was also a rematch of the World Championship final contested at Alexandra Palace in January, where Littler had beaten van Veen 7-1 in a one-sided showpiece. Poland gave the Dutchman a chance to rewrite the narrative. He produced something truly special — and still lost.

“Obviously I’m gutted with the result,” he said. “I’m getting a bit tired of losing finals now, but it’s part of the game and I’m happy to make another final. It’s been a great weekend.”

It has been a theme. Van Veen has demonstrated, across this still-young season, that he is the player most capable of living with Littler on the big stage. The world number three reached the World Championship final. He went within two legs of a European Tour title. He beats Humphries with regularity. The pieces are there. But Littler keeps finding the answer — even, or perhaps especially, when given the most compelling possible reason to be rattled.

The Poland Darts Open nine-darter will be replayed many times. It is a moment of individual brilliance that deserves to be celebrated entirely on its own terms. Van Veen knows that — but in the cold light of a tournament he did not win, he also knows it came at the worst possible moment, against the one player in the world least likely to be intimidated by it.