Luke Humphries explains why ‘superstar’ Gian van Veen poses a major threat to himself and Luke Littler at the World Darts Championship | Darts News
Luke Humphries has named Gian van Veen as a major threat to him and Luke Littler at this year’s World Darts Championship.
Van Veen had the best performance of the tournament so far with an average of 108.28 as he beat Scotland’s Alan Soutar in the second round on Monday.
Humphries, who beat Paul Lim 3-0 in the same session, and Van Veen are in contention to meet in the quarter-finals if they win their next two matches after Christmas.
Asked if players had stepped up their efforts during the World Championship so far, with 14 of the 32 seeds already eliminated, Humphries brought up Van Veen unprompted.
He said: “There are so many great players. Gian is definitely one of them who is capable of beating, me of course, he has beaten me many times, he is certainly capable of beating Luke as well.
“It’s not about people stepping up. It’s about people trying to break us by making the finals all the time. But there are definitely players who can do it. You just have to prove it consistently. You can’t have one time and then six or 12 months without doing it again.”
Van Veen won all four of his matches against Humphries this year and won his first major senior title by winning the European Championship.
Humphries, who will face German Gabriel Clemens in the third round before a possible match against Nathan Aspinall in the fourth round, considers the 23-year-old Dutchman a “superstar”.
“A quarterfinal would be really nice to play against him. I lost three times on TV to him this year, and I felt like I should have won two of them,” he said.
“I’m not looking for revenge or anything like that, because I don’t mind, but I would love to beat the best players to win this tournament.
“If I beat Gabriel [Clemens] in the next one, maybe, and then I’ll play Nathan [Aspinall]and I beat him, and I beat Gian, and then I play Michael [van Gerwen]then maybe Luke Littler in the final, you know you really worked hard and earned this right to be world champion.
“I would love to play [Van Veen] in the quarter-finals. He’s in the cauldron where Luke and I are currently the three best darts players in the world. He’s in good shape and I’d have to play really well to beat him, but he’d also have to play really well to beat me.”
Van Veen focuses on ‘my own game’
Van Veen, who has won the last two world junior titles, will face Latvian veteran Madars Razma in the round of 32.
The Dutch player admits he can have a strong performance at the World Championship if he continues to play at a high level, having never won a match at Alexandra Palace before this year.
He said: “For me, I’m just looking at my own game. I’m not looking to win the tournament and I’m not looking to compare myself to Luke. [Littler] or Luke [Humphries] or other players. I just want to go as far as possible.
“Before the tournament I was the third or fourth favorite of the bookmakers and after Gezzy [Gerwyn Price] By losing, I was third favorite, but I didn’t put any extra pressure on myself.
“I felt really comfortable on stage in the last two matches and that’s what I’ll take with me for the rest of the tournament. I hope it can continue like that.”
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