Luke Littler and Gian van Veen could be set for a swift reunion in Brighton following their heated spat which boiled over last Thursday in Manchester.
The Dutchman said Littler was “out of order” after defeating the world champion in a fiery encounter last week.
Amid a tense deciding leg, Van Veen missed a match dart before turning to find Littler celebrating in front of the home crowd, with Littler then gesturing angrily at his opponent as he turned back to the oche.
The world No 1 then missed his chance to throw for the match and Van Veen did not allow him another visit as he wrapped up the quarter-final win – but not before Littler made a crying gesture to the crowd and then exchanged a brief handshake with his rival.
Potential Brighton Rematch
The pair could meet in Brighton if Van Veen can beat Van Gerwen and Littler sees off Bunting in their respective quarter-finals.
Humphries’ Reaction to the Incident
Luke Humphries expressed some sympathy for his rival Littler after his heated exchange with Van Veen – but insists it will be “forgotten” in a couple of weeks.
He said: “It comes with the territory. You’ve seen it many times over the years. Players have done it here and there. Sometimes you do things and you think ‘oh god I wish I hadn’t done that now’. But you’re in it.
“It’s hot news right now. In two weeks it will all be forgotten, no one will remember it and we’ll all move on.
“I don’t think it’s [needle] necessary for the game. There’s nothing wrong with it sometimes. It’s not something us players want to encourage. If it happens, it happens.”
Mardle Explains What Happened
Speaking after the incident, Sky Sports’ Wayne Mardle explained how matters escalated on the oche at a heated AO Arena.
“I know exactly what happened,” Mardle said. “Van Veen went inside on D15 and Luke was happy about that so kind of gave it the Simon Whitlock ‘well done’.
“You shouldn’t do that and as he has done that, Gian has turned around thinking ‘why did you do that?’
“I can lip read but I won’t repeat what Luke said as I don’t want to hand in my notice! You have got to say that Gian handled it better.”
Mardle later added: “Luke did something he shouldn’t have done and that was giving it this (celebration) but what he didn’t expect was Gian to see him.
“He got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He won’t be doing that again!”
Littler reacted to his controversial defeat by posting a list o