The fallout from Luke Littler's heated confrontation with Gian van Veen on the Manchester stage continues to ripple through the darts world. In a quarterfinal clash during night nine of Premier League Darts, Littler, playing in his home event at the AO Arena, rallied from a 5-3 deficit to force a last-leg decider. The world number one missed a match dart on double seven for a 134 checkout, allowing van Veen to return on 90. Van Veen missed inside on double 15, turned in frustration, and caught Littler seemingly celebrating the miss. Littler threw his arms in the air to pump up the fans but then missed inside on double seven with his second dart, spurning the chance and allowing van Veen to pin double six for a crucial win.
Van Veen later told Sky Sports, "I'm on 90, I miss double 15 on the inside, and then I see him celebrating towards the crowd. I don't think that's normal. And then he also makes that crying gesture. He's a fantastic darts player but today he showed he's not a good loser. Celebrating a miss from your opponent, that really annoys me." Van Veen went on to reach the final, losing to an in-form Gerwyn Price, who closed the gap at the top to Littler.
Former Premier League player turned pundit Wayne Mardle weighed in on Sky Sports, stating, "I know exactly what happened. Van Veen went inside on D15 and Luke was happy about that so kind of gave it the Simon Whitlock 'well done'." Mardle believes Littler was in the wrong, adding, "You shouldn't do that and as he has done that, Gian has turned around thinking 'why did you do that?' I can lip read but I won't repeat what Luke said as I don't want to hand in my notice. You have got to say that Gian handled it better." Mardle further criticized Littler, reasoning, "Luke did something he shouldn't have done and that was giving it this (celebration) but what he didn't expect was Gian to see him. He got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He won't be doing that again."
In the Premier League standings, Littler sits clear at the top, two points clear of the Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton. Van Veen's three points from the win leave him fifth, just outside the playoffs. A rematch between Littler and van Veen could occur in the next Premier League event in Brighton if both win their quarterfinal contests.
