LONDON -- Gian van Veen said he is conscious of needing to keep pace with Luke Littler's scoring if he is to have a chance of wrestling away the reigning champion's title when they face off in Saturday's World Darts Championship final.
Van Veen, 23, set up a meeting with Littler after coming through one of the all-time classic World Darts Championship semifinals against Gary Anderson on Friday in which both players averaged just over 102.
Littler managed a slightly better 105 in beating Ryan Searle 6-1 in their semifinal clash and the 18-year-old's heavy scoring has served to make him almost unbeatable over longer formats.
"He's going to put you under pressure from set one. And it's maybe going to be 13 sets, so it's going to be very, very tough against him," Van Veen said of Littler during a post-match news conference.
"But I know if I can keep up with his scoring, I know my checkout percentage, this tournament has been really good. The whole year has been really good. So hopefully I'm going to take my chances tomorrow, keep up with him scoring- wise, because he's probably the better scorer than I am.
"I just need to keep up, take my chances, and then I've got a chance tomorrow."
Van Veen was beaten by Littler in the final of the World Youth Championship in 2023, shortly before 'The Nuke' made his unprecedented debut run to the final of the PDC World Darts Championship at the age of 16.
Littler is looking to become the first player to win back-to-back world titles since Anderson did so 10 years ago and the Scot just short of being the man left standing in Littler's way as he fell to Van Veen in a dramatic semifinal.
Asked if he realised that he was playing in a match for the ages while onstage, Van Veen replied: "Yeah, of course. I think after four or five sets, I looked at the screen and saw both of us averaging 105... Gary was scoring so well, but he took out all his checkouts that he got as well. A couple of times 72 with one dart at tops, he took it out.
"I thought to myself, 'set four, there's not been one leg, at least as I'm aware of, that one of us has missed too many darts at double and the other one took it.' We both scored well, took our chances and I knew it was a belter of a game."
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The Dutchman has repeatedly described Anderson as his "idol" and so not being overawed by the Scot was a test in itself. Van Veen admitted that he had to remind himself to concentrate at various points during the match.
"Of course, afterwards, but especially even during the match [I was enjoying watching Anderson]. Probably as a player, you shouldn't be thinking that, but I was standing behind him. He was hitting what felt like his 40th maximum. He was hitting so many trebles and I was standing behind him, I was like, 'OK, here's another maximum.' I was just enjoying him playing," Van Veen admitted.
"It shouldn't be [like that] when you're on that stage, especially in the semifinal. But that's what I'm like. I just enjoy playing darts, but also watching the legends of the game.
"But as soon as I realised, 'OK you shouldn't be doing that In the World semifinal.' I got my head down and scored well as well in that game. But yeah, I was really enjoying myself on that stage."