“They were not against me, but for Lisa” – Van Veen reacts to boos from audience during gritty victory against Ashton
Gian van Veen narrowly won his first match at the 2025 Grand Slam of Darts. However, the brand new European Championship winner had to pull out all the stops to beat the experienced Lisa Ashton 5-4 in Wolverhampton.”I don’t think ‘enjoy’ is the right word,” Van Veen began with a smile, speaking after his victory. “I started well, got ahead 1-0, but as soon as you play against a woman – especially someone like Lisa Ashton – you know the crowd is going to be behind her. I thought: if I get ahead quickly 3-0 or 4-0, I won’t have any problems. But when it got to 2-1 and I missed a load of doubles, I knew: this is going to be a tough afternoon.”
The match undulated back and forth, with Ashton smartly taking advantage of the momentum and Van Veen recovering in the final leg. “Luckily I pulled it out in the end,” he said with relief. “I’ve rarely had so much boos directed at me, but that’s part of it. Now that I went through it and still won, it’s just valuable experience.”
“The European Championship title gave me confidence, but this is a new tournament”
For the first time during his walk-on, Van Veen was announced by presenter John McDonald as “the new European champion. A moment that, despite the excitement, he did not let pass unnoticed. “He said it pretty quickly, a bit hastily even,” laughed Van Veen. “But it remains special to be announced as European champion, even if it only lasted two seconds. That still gives a special feeling.”
Still, he refuses to get carried away by his recent title. “Of course it was fantastic, that victory in Dortmund, but this is a new tournament,” he stressed. “The Grand Slam is important for the ranking. The focus is now here, not on what happened two weeks ago.”
The way Van Veen played the deciding leg showed his mental growth. “A year ago I would have lost this match one hundred percent,” he said honestly. “Maybe even six months ago. But the final against Humphries in Dortmund gave me so much confidence in decisive legs. Today I showed I can take that with me.”
That experience proved crucial. “In the last leg I was on 68 after twelve arrows – that’s just good,” he explained. “Lisa luckily scored a little less that leg, which gave me some air, because I had missed a lot of doubles this match. That has to be better against Wessel tomorrow, because he’s in form. But that will come good.”
When asked if it feels different to play against a woman, he responded soberly. “Maybe subconsciously it does,” he admitted. “But for me it doesn’t really feel different. Of course, when the whole room starts cheering as soon as she hits a double, it’s awkward. When she was ahead 4-3 with that double 16, it was SO loud – it’s hard to ignore that. But I know it’s not personal. They’re not against me, they’re for Lisa.”
He knows by now that he will experience that dynamic more often. “In two weeks I play against Beau Greaves – then the same thing happens,” he said. “That’s part of it. You can expect it, so you have to accept it. I told myself: make sure you pick up a few legs quickly so the crowd doesn’t get too much influence. But yeah, that didn’t quite work out,” he smiled. “Then it automatically becomes a tough match.”
“I just want to win all my three group matches”
Van Veen is aware that he is in a leaden group, so every leg is important. “It’s a strong pool, so every point is important,” the Dutchman said. “Maybe soon it will even go on leg difference. But I think: just win all your three matches, then you’re through. Part one of the three is in, now the rest.”
His next duel is against compatriot Wessel Nijman, who impressed earlier in the day with a victory over Josh Rock. “Wessel is a fantastic player,” Van Veen said in praise. “I said just this week that he might be just a little short of translating his form from the floor to the stage, but today he showed exactly what he can do. That 130 finish to make it 4-4 was amazing. Tomorrow promises to be a spectacle.”
