World Darts Champs ace left in tears as issue sparked cheat claim | Other | Sport
Gian van Veen is in the World Darts Championship quarter-finals after battling dartitis, a condition that once saw one of his opponents accuse him of cheating. The Dutchman – who is colour blind – suffers from the psychological condition which hinders darts players from releasing the dart. The 23-year-old – who takes on Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals at Ally Pally tonight – opened up about his experience competing with the condition.
Discussing the instance in which an opponent believed he was purposely releasing the dart slowly to throw him off his game, he said on Huw Ware’s Tops and Tales podcast earlier this year: “I still remember one game on the Challenge Tour when I first got dartitis and my opponent was angry at me because he thought I was doing it on purpose.
“I was in tears, crying my eyes out in the middle of Barnsley Metrodome because I was struggling so badly. And for my opponent to tell me I was cheating or something — it was heartbreaking.” It is a condition that has plagued a number of darts players, most notably five-time world champion Eric Bristow and former World Matchplay winner Nathan Aspinall.
Despite the hindrance of dartitis, Van Veen believes experiencing the condition has not only grown his confidence but made him a better player. He explained: “The weird thing is, I played better through it. I started averaging like 85 with dartitis. But when I got rid of it, I averaged 92, 93, because in my head, I was like, ‘You’re not going to release the dart until you’re 100 per cent sure you’re going to hit the target.’
“So it took a while, but I started playing better, winning more games, and that massively grew my confidence. And that’s how I eventually got rid of it.” It’s been an impressive run at Ally Pally for the current European champion who has risen to world No. 5.
Opening up about his world championship ambitions several months ago, he admitted that being able to lift the Sid Waddell trophy just once in his career would be enough to satisfy him. He added: “I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘I’m going to win five world titles.’ I’ll be very happy with my career if I win one.
“I think so far, my career’s already been very successful. But yeah, I’d love to top it off — whether it’s in 20, 25, 30 years — with a world title. Doesn’t matter if it’s next year or in 10 or 15 years. Just win one, and I’ll be very satisfied.”
It’s Humphries that stands in his way of securing passage to the semi-finals but it’ll surely be a tie Van Veen will enter full of confidence, given he defeated the Premier League champion four times last year. Two of those wins came in the finals of the Players Championship 6 and the European Championship.
