Luke Littler has once again taken to social media to respond after Gian van Veen aimed pointed criticism at him following their fiery Premier League Darts showdown in Manchester. The two stars faced off in the opening round in what was a highly anticipated rematch of the World Darts Championship final.
Van Veen emerged victorious in a tense, last-leg decider, with Littler visibly frustrated as the match reached its climax. After missing a crucial match dart, the Dutchman turned sharply and locked eyes with his opponent in a moment that added fuel to an already heated contest.
Littler reacted immediately, throwing his arms into the air in disbelief before making a crying gesture, all while whipping the Manchester crowd into a frenzy as tensions spilled over on stage.
Despite being booed by sections of the crowd, Van Veen held his nerve to close out the win, with the pair sharing a frosty and brief handshake at the end of the match. Speaking afterwards, Van Veen did not hide his feelings about Littler’s conduct.
He told Dutch media: “I see him cheering towards the crowd, I don’t think that’s normal, and then he makes that crying gesture too. He is a great darts player, but today he showed that he is not a good loser.
“Cheering over an opponent’s miss really annoys me, so that’s why I gave him an angry look. That he then misses three darts at a double, that’s his problem.”
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Van Veen doubled down on his criticism, saying: “He was celebrating me missing double 15, that’s out of order. I was fuming about that.
“And he missed three darts at double seven, then he looked at me like I was the problem. He is probably fuming — that’s my perspective. His perspective is probably different. I love Luke to bits. All the attention he has brought to the sport is phenomenal, but today was my day.”
Littler responded in his own way on Instagram, posting Van Veen’s cutting remarks alongside three crying-laughing emojis, clearly brushing off the criticism.
He then followed it up with another post, sharing a screenshot of the achievements listed on his Wikipedia page — a move that appeared to underline his dominance and remind critics of his success at the very top of the sport.
Adding a short but pointed caption, Littler wrote: “Goodnight godbless thank you Manchester.”
The episode comes just months after Littler openly admitted he is still working on controlling his emotions on stage. Following his victory over Mensur Suljović at the World Championship in December, the teenager acknowledged that he can sometimes lose his cool under pressure.
He said at the time: “If I’m honest, mentally, on stage, I still don’t think I’m that good. I can lose my head a bit and throw a dart at the board out of frustration. That can happen — we all get frustrated — but I am still only 18. I can work on it and build on it.”
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