Luke Littler shows his class after winning ‘life-changing’ World Championship prize | Other | Sport

“But yeah, I’ve been wanting to say this. Everyone knows what happened to Anthony Joshua and his team and his friends. Rest in peace to those guys. Just like AJ said, the first time was so nice, I had to do it twice!” 

On the record-breaking £1m prize money, the 18-year-old added: “It’s absolutely life-changing. This win has increased that gap from Luke Humphries and I’m in the clear for No.1. My first purchase? I don’t know. I can’t change car just yet. We’ll have to see, we’ll have to see.

“I started playing better from the second set. The first set, I wasn’t happy going into the break but I had to kick on from there. I said to myself, ‘give it time, you will find it.’ I started off from the left of the oche and moved over to the right. It all came to plan.

“Gian, what a tournament, he can be very happy. Every set he was there and behind me. I had to take my chances. I didn’t think it would be like this. I’ve been practicing, the family and friends have always been there to support me, the sponsors have been there.

“This is why we are here and it’s not stopping any time soon. It’s very special. We have to keep going, keep adding more titles. We can’t stop here. This year, last year, the year before, we are still on this rollercoaster.”

The defeated Van Veen added: “Luke definitely wasn’t in the mood to give me any chances. He played phenomenal. He put me under pressure every leg, every set, and I missed too many chances today to make it a game.

“He’s a fantastic player which is why he’s world number one by a margin now. That’s why he’s back-to-back world champion. I would have liked to pick up the title, but I would have liked to give Luke a game and that’s what I didn’t do.

“I lost too many legs and I missed too many chances. Looking back at this tournament I’m very proud to have got to the final. Number three in the world and Dutch number one. I’m very proud of this achievement but also disappointed.”

The pair were then asked about the idea of more battles in 2026 and Littler said: “Now he’s No.3 in the world, if he stays there and I stay No.1, maybe we might come back here in the final in 2027! We will play so many times and he knows he’s in the Premier League, so we will battle week in, week out.”