The Dutchman Gian van Veen completes the semi-finals of the Darts World Championship. In a top-class quarter-final, the European champion beat Luke Humphries from England 5-1. The youngster moved past compatriot Michael van Gerwen into third place in the Order of Merit.
This means that the 23-year-old is not only in the semi-finals of the “Ally Pally” for the first time, but can also look forward to a starting place in the financially extremely lucrative Premier League. In the round of the last four on Friday evening, another extremely high hurdle awaits Van Veen, Gary Anderson, who entered the tournament as number ten on the seed list.
Van Veen had already won the last four duels against the world number two, who played a sparkling clean game with an average of 105.41 points and 55.2 percent on the doubles fields.
Humphries’ quarter-final exit makes it clear that world champion and defending champion Luke Littler will remain number one in the darts world even after the tournament. “The Nuke” eliminated Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski 5-0 on Thursday evening. The 18-year-old will face his compatriot Ryan Searle in the semi-finals.