VAN GERWEN STILL FEELS “SOUR” OVER LITTLER DEFEAT

By Phil Lanning

MICHAEL van Gerwen admits his World Final defeat to Luke Littler still feels “sour” – and that he broke a toe on holiday.

The three-times world champion returned to the big stage with a classy 6-1 win over Dirk van Duijvenbode in the Dutch Masters in Den Bosch. 

MVG, 35, missed the opening Bahrain Masters as he was on holiday in Thailand. 

On his injury sustained abroad, he joked with Viaplay reporter Arjan van der Giessen: “You didn’t hear that. I told you that. No no, that’s annoying, but you’re not doing anything about it. 

“It happened last week on vacation. An accident is just a bump in the road.

“I enjoyed my vacation. Definitely, nice to unwind, gone away with family. Now we need to get back to darts, right?”

Van Gerwen now faces Littler in a mouthwatering quarter-final clash tonight (Sat) in a repeat of their Ally Pally final which The Nuke won 7-3. 

He added: “At the moment itself it’s very sour, but it wouldn’t be fair to myself if I didn’t look at this positively. 

“I put up a very nice tournament and played fantastic. Sour that I didn’t reward myself, but I can take a lot of satisfaction from it now.”

Van Gerwen once again looked in fine form against compatriot Van Duijvenbode. 

He said: “Dirk maybe thought the Dutch crowd would support him. But against one person he doesn’t have that. That’s me. A shame for him, but you have to do it yourself in the end.”