Fiery Luke Littler and Gian van Veen row to have lingering consequences

Gian van Veen expects hostility with Luke Littler to linger following their spectacular clash in Manchester on Thursday night.

The pair had an explosive, on-air stage during their quarter-final match as tensions ran high.

Van Veen surged to an early 4-1 lead before Littler mounted a trademark comeback, leveling the score to force a deciding leg.

In the tense finale, Van Veen missed a crucial double 15 for the match. Littler appeared to openly celebrate the miss towards the home crowd and subsequently directed a mocking, crying gesture at him.

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Infuriated by the perceived lack of sportsmanship, Van Veen glared at the 19-year-old reigning world champion.

Littler then stepped up to the oche but fluffed his own lines, missing match darts at double seven. Van Veen maintained his composure to pin double six, securing the victory and prompting a notoriously frosty handshake between the pair.

In the short time since, both men have reacted.

Van Veen described the youngster as a 'sore loser', while Littler aimed some pointed posts at his rival on social media.

Van Veen has now reacted to that, while also admitting that he doesn't expect things to be 'very friendly between us anytime soon'.

He said: "No, we haven't spoken. He hasn't approached me either.

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"I saw his reaction on social media; he thought it was funny. Well, I don’t think things will be very friendly between us anytime soon.”

Van Veen did, however, attempt to play down the severity of their exchange.

“I’m here for myself. He’s a fantastic darter, the world number one, so what he does for the sport is great," he said.

"But I care little about what he thinks of me.”

Meanwhile, Gerwyn Price has also weighed in - with the Welshman expressing hope that the pair will be able to get along in the future.

"Things like this happen in darts, I'm sure in a couple of weeks it'll be done and dusted, gone and we'll move on," he stated.

"I've been in that situation, it's part and parcel, in darts emotions are high, it's a rollercoaster and people get hyped up.

"It is what it is. If you didn't have that reaction, sometimes you need to be a little bit pee'd off and get those reactions otherwise, what's the point?

"Do you not want to win that much? You'll probably regret some of the things you do, or the reactions you have then you think about it tomorrow.

"But if you're not up for it in the game, sometimes it happens.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it, I've been there, the backlash of it, Luke will probably have it but in a couple of weeks, it'll be gone."

Littler and Van Veen return to Premier League action on night 10 in Manchester next Thursday.

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