Luke Littler has been involved in a tense spat with Dutch darts star Gian van Veen since their tense clash in Manchester and the two-time world champion has now spoken out
Littler and Van Veen clashed in Manchester over three weeks ago(Image: Getty Images)
Luke Littler admits he has still not spoken to Gian van Veen in an attempt to smooth over their blazing row. The pair clashed on night nine of the Premier League in Manchester three weeks ago.
Van Veen secured a controversial victory against the two-time world champion, the Dutchman accusing Littler of ‘celebrating towards the crowd’ when he missed key darts.
Things have remained extremely frosty since then. Speaking after securing a night 12 win in Manchester, Littler has revealed that the pair are still not on speaking terms.
“No, we have not spoken, but I’m not the type of person to go up and talk to him or something like that,” he said. “Maybe he is waiting for me to go and talk to him, but I’m not the type of person.
“Even in the practice room, people will talk to me first. I am not the type of person to be chatting away.
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“We can obviously settle it on the dartboard. In the back room it has just been normal. It has just been the same preparation-wise. I think he’s forgotten about it. I forgot about it. If I need to talk to him, then I will.
“I don’t regret anything. Obviously, I had my opinion, he has got his opinion, so we are all entitled to it.
“I think we have both moved on with our game on stage, but off stage, obviously, we’ve not spoken. But yeah, I’m sure we will.”
Littler was met with another hostile reception this week as he secured victory in Liverpool. But he insists that it didn’t compare to the boos that he was was subject to in Rotterdam earlier this month.
He added: “It is what it is (crowd booing). I’ve won and we move on to next week. Rotterdam was way louder than this tonight. This week was nothing compared to last week.
“But I’ve just got to forget about it. I was focused, I definitely wanted to win tonight and that’s what I’ve done.
“I even proved to people last week that I can win games under those circumstances and I’ve done it again. There is no anxiety there. I just expect the worst but it was not worse than Rotterdam.
“That is the worst I have experienced. It is good to come through those games under those circumstances.”
The Premier League will be back in action next week in Aberdeen. Littler will take on Josh Rock in the quarter-finals, with Van Veen set to be up against Jonny Clayton.
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