Alexandra Palace hosts the final, 8.15pm GMT start
“What did you think of Van Veen’s interview last night?” says Gary Naylor. “He’s obviously a lovely bloke and it’s clearly better for one’s wellbeing to be ‘super happy’ after beating Gary Anderson in a real arm-wrestle, but does he think (perhaps subconsciously) that he’s now achieved his objective? I hope he does win tonight, but I’m not sure the iron will required to stand on the oche against Littler can be summoned less than 24 hours after such a high.”
No, I think Van Veen is wired differently to most and won’t have that problem; it helps that his record against Littler is very good. I still expect Littler, maybe 7-4 or 7-5 after a slow start, but I’ll be surprised if Van Veen doesn’t turn up.
I was just afraid of losing. Afraid of what people might think of me. What if I lose this game? What are my parents going to think of me? And that’s when it started. Dartitis, with me, was just being afraid to fail. And that was because I wasn’t confident in myself, not in darts, not in my personal life.
This piece, on Gian van Veen’s struggle with dartitis among other things, is well worth a read. As somebody who has had a form of writer’s block for almost a decade, I have immense admiration for Van Veen’s ability to overcome something even more debilitating.
