Gian van Veen, the Dutch darts player who has battled dartitis, has revealed a distressing incident from the Challenge Tour when he was accused of cheating by an opponent due to his slow release caused by the condition. The 23-year-old, who is also colour blind, recalled the moment on Huw Ware's Tops and Tales podcast earlier this year.
Van Veen said: '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.' He added: '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.'
Despite the emotional turmoil, Van Veen believes the condition actually boosted his confidence and improved his game. 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."'
Tonight, Van Veen faces Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship at Ally Pally. The current European champion, now ranked world No. 5, has already defeated Humphries four times last year, including in the finals of the Players Championship 6 and the European Championship.
Reflecting on his ambitions, Van Veen admitted that winning just one world title would be enough to satisfy him. He said: '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.' He added: '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.'
