Luke Littler shares gesture to girlfriend that left Van Veen furious | Other | Sport

Down but never out, the ‘Nuke’ managed to claw the game back to 5-5, setting up a nail-biting deciding leg. With 134 required to check out, Littler landed two treble 20s but fluffed the double seven, which would have seen him take the match. Van Veen then stepped up with 90 left to check out, hitting his treble but landing inside on 15 to squander his own chance of glory.

Despite a largely cordial match up until that point, Van Veen appeared irked by Littler’s reaction to his miss – glaring at the 19-year-old in disbelief. As he turned back to face the oche, Littler thrust his hand into the air and tilted his head in disgust as he muttered something to himself.

Littler then had the chance to take the win once more but couldn’t find the double seven as an exasperated crowd voiced their shock. As he returned to the table, Littler then gestured to suggest that Van Veen was crying about how the leg had played out before the Dutchman found the double six needed to win the match.

An enraged Littler briefly shook the 23-year-old’s hand before he stormed off the stage muttering to himself once more as Van Veen was left wearing a look of disbelief on his face. And now, Littler has broken his silence on what sparked the ugly scenes.

In an interview with Online Darts, the two-time PDC World Champion said: “When he come inside the double 15, I looked up, had a drink of my water and then I done a little fist bump towards Faith and her dad. The fans started on that side – they were all screaming – so I was like that to them, ‘Come on.’

“And then the whole arena…but then there was no need for Gian to look back and stare at me. He’s still got a dart in hand, so really he should step back, look at the floor and then throw his last dart. He’s staring at me, and he’s caught me apparently [celebrating his miss]. That’s a load of nonsense.”

Littler also claimed that Van Veen put his darts down on the table in the aftermath, dramatically prolonging play. However, fans online weren’t buying Littler’s explanation, still frustrated with his conduct. One wrote: “He’s seen the backlash and is now playing damage protection,” while a second added: “Would have been easier to say nothing.”

A third said: “Taken him over a week to come up with that excuse,” while a fourth vented: “Terrible, could just apologise and say he was wrong everyone would respect that. Just lying and taking zero accountability is not a great look.”