DARTS – DUTCH darts star Gian van Veen said he had “a fantastic tournament” in finishing runner-up to countryman Michael van Gerwen in the 2026 Bahrain Darts Masters, which came to a close Friday night at Terminal 4 by Beyon in Exhibition World Bahrain (EWB).
After his impressive performance on his tournament debut in the kingdom, the talented 23-year-old was quoted as saying: “To be here for the first time ever, I’ve had a fantastic tournament.”
Van Veen pressed three-time world champion van Gerwen in a hugely exciting final, in which he trailed 0-3 but then roared back to get to within 5-6. Van Veen then tried to force a winner-take-all leg in their best-of-15 match-up, but eventually succumbed 6-8 to his seasoned opponent, who he admitted he admired.
“Being a Dutchman, I always looked up to Michael, so to play him here in the final was always going to be great,” said van Veen, who was presented his trophy as vice-champion by Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa and CBX managing director Roy Boutagy.
It was the second straight title-decider for van Veen to start the year. He had also made it to the world championship final in London earlier this month, where he lost to reigning two-time world champion Luke Littler from England.
“It’s good to make two finals in the last couple of weeks, but it’s two times runner-up,” van Veen said. “It’s something to work on.
“I’m here to win the tournament, that’s why I was here and that was my goal. I’m looking forward to the next tournament, but Michael was the deserved winner today.”
According to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), the clash between van Veen and van Gerwen was the fourth all-Dutch final in the PDC World Series of Darts, with van Gerwen winning on each occasion.
Van Gerwen praised van Veen after their title showdown. “What Gian has been producing lately, with the world championship final and now straight away this tournament, we are going to see a lot more of him,” van Gerwen was quoted as saying.
“I think there will be plenty more matches between us to come. He is a great talent, but I feel old now – I’m only 36!”
Van Veen was competing in only his third event on the PDC World Series of Darts, which now heads to Riyadh for the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters, taking place tomorrow and Tuesday.
The same eight PDC superstars who competed in Bahrain will also be playing in the Saudi capital, with van Veen, van Gerwen, and Littler joined by Englishmen Stephen Bunting, Luke Humphries, and Nathan Aspinall, along with Welshman Gerwyn Price and Dutchman Danny Noppert.
They will be taking on six of the eight Asian standouts who played this past weekend at EWB, namely Filipino stars Alexis Toylo and Lourence Ilagan, Japanese duo Motomu Sakai and Ryusei Azemoto, Singapore’s Paul Lim, and Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung. They will be joined by Paolo Nebrida from the Philippines and Tomoya Goto from Japan.
The 2026 Bahrain Darts Masters was organised by BIC, the PDC, and sports promoter CBX, and was supported by Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority.
This year’s event marked its fourth edition, and it kicked off the 2026 calendar on the World Series of Darts, which culminates with the finals in Amsterdam this September.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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