VAN VEEN OPENS UP ON PREMIER LEAGUE SELF-DOUBT

GIAN VAN VEEN admits he feared he was “not Premier League worthy” during his rollercoaster debut season among darts’ elite.

The Giant exploded into the competition by reaching three nightly finals in the opening four weeks and immediately looked capable of challenging the biggest names in the sport.

But a major turning point came when Van Veen suffered kidney stones midway through the campaign and was forced to undergo surgery.

The Dutchman missed the Dublin night entirely — automatically receiving a 6-0 defeat against Michael van Gerwen — but insists the after-effects caused even more damage.

Van Veen finished seventh in the table on 18 points because he failed to win a nightly title.

He told the Darts Draait Door Podcast: “It hasn’t gone completely the way I maybe hoped it would, but obviously there were a few other things that happened along the way as well.

“Overall, I don’t think I can be too unhappy.

“During Rotterdam Ahoy, after my match, I said emotionally: ‘This isn’t Premier League worthy.

“At that moment, it genuinely felt like that. I don’t think I showed the level of darts I’d hoped for.

“But the fact I was still in contention for the play-offs going into the penultimate week means I can definitely be proud of that.

“There are plenty of players who played their first Premier League season and were barely seen afterwards. Luckily, that hasn’t happened to me.

“I’m not saying I’d definitely have made the play-offs without the operation and the kidney stones, but I’d certainly have been in a much better position.

“In the old format, if you missed a week you could still recover later. That’s impossible now.

“I probably convinced myself it wasn’t affecting me as much as it actually was, and that’s a shame.

“I wouldn’t say I’m still really suffering from it now, but I do notice I’m not the same player I was a few months ago. At the same time, I feel like that level is starting to come back.”

The world No3 also admitted the relentless Premier League schedule eventually became exhausting alongside his ProTour and Euro Tour commitments.

He added: “I skipped a few Players Championship events this year.

“After the operation, and especially during the Premier League, I probably should have skipped even more for my own schedule.”

Another major decision came when the 24-year-old finally switched darts after battling grip issues for months and even splitting his thumb open during last year’s European Championship win.

He continued: “I knew something had to change eventually. But things were going so well.

“During the Premier League, when things started going worse and after the operation, my confidence dropped.

“Then I received a new set of darts and thought: this feels like the right moment.

“From then on, it was simply a case of putting the old darts away and continuing with the new ones.”