"It's barely a couple of years since a 16-year-old Luke Littler and a 21-year-old Gian van Veen came through a 96-player field at Milton Keynes to qualify for the final of the world youth championship. There's a charming photo of the pair of them with their arms around each other, silly little smiles plastered on to their silly little faces, the cutest high-street haircuts you've ever seen. Two kids at the very start of an unforgettable journey."
"Even when asked last week whether he thought he was ready to play a world championship final, we got an equivocal kind of answer. There is a reason and realism to him. His whole world has been doubt, misgiving, setback, recalibration, renewal. Belief is evidence of things not seen, and if Van Veen never dreamed of getting this far, perhaps it was because he has learned never to take an achievement for granted until he can physically hold it in his hands."
Van Veen led their 2025 head-to-head overall but lost both televised encounters, falling 10-4 in the UK Open quarter-final and 2-0 in a dramatic World Grand Prix first-round match. Van Veen posted a tournament-high average of 106.47 in the double-start event, yet Littler averaged over 105 and executed two huge finishes to secure the match, with Van Veen winning only two of eight legs. Both players progressed from the 2023 world youth championship final; Littler's meteoric rise contrasts with Van Veen's cautious, realist approach shaped by doubt, setbacks, recalibration and renewal.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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