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August 1, 2026 10 mins

The New Zealand Darts Masters is just around the corner. 

It’ll bring the biggest names to our shores to compete against our best local talent. 

One of those names is World Championship finalist Gian van Veen, who told Piney there’s definitely danger in the matches, as they’ve seen in the past that there’s are a lot of good players in our corner of the world. 

He says it’s also a good opportunity for local players to show the world what they’re capable of. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
A star studded international lineup featuring world champions, major winners
and some of the sport's most exciting emerging talent will
headline the twenty twenty six New Zealand Dance Masters, coming
up at Spark Arena in Auckland on Friday August fourteen
and Saturday August fifteen. Eight PDC professionals will take on
the best players from New Zealand and Australia in front

(00:35):
of another capacity Auckland crowd, and the international field features
former world champion Girwin Price, crowd favorite Stephen Bunting, Australian
number one, Damon Hetter, former Major winner James Wade, Welsh
star Johnny Clayton, Northern Ireland sensation Josh Rock, former European
champion Ross Smith, and rising Dutch star Gian Fon Fayne.

(00:58):
It's all about here and Van Fay something you'd have
been dreaming out.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Since he was a foe.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
He's in the Water Champion Chip final, peats Garry Anderson
by six, six to three in what was an ancel of.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
World be of the game.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, what a world championship he had. John van Vene
has with us on Weekend Sport. Thanks for joining us, John,
very much. Looking forward to having you down here in
New Zealand. Have you visited New Zealand before?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
No, It's going to be my first time, so I'm
looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
We're looking forward to having you here as well. Well,
you're still only in your early twenties, but you've already
established yourself as one of darts bright young stars. When
did you first realize that you could make a career
out of darts.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yeah, it was difficult.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
I think during COVID times, I played a lot of
darts in my yeah, my backroom viail weak coam. I
played a lot of online darts, and then I played
a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Of like PDC talk card.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Holders back down who played at fantastic level and I
gave them really good games. So at that moment and
I realized, well, if I get this into the PDC
tournaments and maybe I can have a career out of this.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
And yet we're also fairst afterwards.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
But I think that was the first realization when I
was like, oh, maybe I can have a good career
out of this.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Every young Dutch player coming through inevitably is compared to
Michael van Gowin. Is it flattering or is it a
comparison that you try to avoid.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, it's not something I'm trying to avoid.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Of course, it's flattering when you get compared to Michael
Ango and but it's also a comparison which you are
almost never going to win because he's won so many tournaments,
three will titles, counters of majors. So it's even though
I'm ahead of him on the world rankings right now,
I don't see myself ahead of him ever, because, yeah,
everything he has done for the game. But yeah, of

(02:48):
course it's always nice to be compared to one of
the best players in the sport.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Your game has developed really quickly over the past couple
of years. Where do you think the big improvements have
come in your game?

Speaker 4 (02:59):
I think it's all about experience and also confidence. Yes,
it's been going so well the last couple of years.
The first year was always you know, different arenas you're
playing new players, you're getting experience, and then afterwhids, once
you have those experience, you know what you're going to
expect on the stages and in front of the big
crowds and you know what the players are like, You're
not playing them for the first time anymore, and then

(03:20):
you start beating them and you know you can beat
them then afterwards because of your confidence is growing and
I think once that has clicked for me, it's really
shot me up the rankings.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
The twenty twenty six World Championship, you went all the
way to the final, wins over Luke Humphries and Gary
Anderson among others on the way there. How do you
reflect back on the World Championships at the start of
this year.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, fantastic, of course.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
You know, going into that tournament, I never won a
game at Alexandra Pellen's there, so that was the main
goal for the tournament. But then as soon as that
was out of the way, I felt so much relief.
I was actually enjoying myself up on that stage and
I didn't feel any pressure whatsoever. So yeah, looking back
at it now, of course, it was a fantastic tournament
and I think, really really my breakthrough.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
It looks amazing on television and I know a lot
of our listeners have visited Alexandra Pellace for the World
champs What is that arena like to walk into into
playing Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
It's an iconic venue.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
You know.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
It's because it's it's on top of the hill.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
So as soon as you drive up the hill, especially
at night, when you see Alexandra Palace with all this
lights lit up, it's I still get goosebumps every time
I drive up that hill. And then as soon as
you enter it's especially on stage because it's not as
big as people may think, so it's very loud in there.
The crowd are very close to the stage. It's one
big noise inside the arena. So every time I'm on

(04:38):
that stage, I'm enjoying myself and it's yeah, it's always
a special feeling.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Did your performances there, you know, enriching the final earlier
this year, how much of a boost did that give you, John,
how much confidence did you gain from from thinking to yourself, right,
I really belong among the best players in the world.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, massively.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
As I said, I've not won a game there before
that tournament, so that was always hanging above my head, like, Okay,
he's a good player, but he still hasn't done well
in the World Championship. And as soon as I make
that final, dozed down, were gone?

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Everyone? Well, yeah, of course it's the biggest tournament of
them all.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
You put yourself on the map for the whole world,
and that gave me so much more confidence going into
twenty twenty six. You know, you'd be, as you said,
the likes of Luke Humphrey's Gary Anderson on the biggest
stage and the biggest tournament of them all. And if
you can do it there, you can do it everywhere.
So yeah, that tournament gave me so much more confidence.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
And you're now regularly playing against those sorts of pliers,
the best players in the world. What do you learn
from competing against players of that caliber so regularly, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
You learn a lot, you know, especially with the Premier League.
As you said, when you played the week in week out,
you're gonna lose a lot more games, so you're learn
a lot more about yourself and how you take those losses,
because that's what happens when you play the best week
in week out. And you can see they have done
it for years. It's my first year playing them week
in week out, so you can see what it's like
and how they deal with it. Maybe you can ask

(05:57):
for some tips here and there, but I think it's
been mostly in learning curve about myself this year.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Is there any plier you particularly enjoy are facing because
you know they'll bring out the best in you?

Speaker 3 (06:11):
What it's a different one. I always like to play
Luke Humphreys.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
But for myself growing up, Gary Anderson was my idol,
So I always like to play Gary, especially that World's
semi final game. We were both playing really well and
I was I think that's my most enjoyable match out
of my whole career so far because of yeah, playing
my idol on the biggest stage, and so yeah, I
always like to play Gary.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Wonderful. The margins at the top level are incredibly fine.
It's the biggest difference do you think between good players
and great players? Is it the mental side of the game.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, that's one of the major aspects of the game.
As I said, because this year I've played so many games,
You're going to lose many more games. So if you're
mentally that strong, you know how to take losses and
if you keep only thinking about the good times that
during the match, you could beat anyone. And I think
that's especially at the at the top end of this sport.
That's so crucial for your game because if you're mentally

(07:04):
not strong enough, you're you're going to crumble on the pressure.
So yeah, I think the mental aspect of the game
is something that's maybe even bigger than the people think.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
And what are some of the things you've really worked
hard on?

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Me?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Everyone talks about your scoring power and it's so impressive,
but are there other things that you have specifically worked
the hardest on over the last year or so.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
I think my finishing part, because last year my finishing
was really good. Yes, I'm scoring well, but I'm not
like Luke Littler, for example, he can outscore everyone. I'm
not in that like that region at the moment, but
I know I can out finish anyone. And if I
take all my finishes like I've done two weeks ago
at the World match Play, I can even with a
bit less scoring, I could still get to the semi finals,

(07:45):
for example. So I think that's an aspect of my
game I've really focused on and I think that's working
very well for.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Me so far.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Do you have a favorite double?

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Double sixteen? That's my favorite double? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
I think a lot of people would say the same thing. Yes,
it seems to be a favorite. We see you walk out, Jean,
You know that's the first time we see you or
any of the players, is when you walk out. What
about before there? What is your pre walkout routine? Do
you listen to music? Do you like to stay relaxed?
What do you do before you walk into those those
big arenas?

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Mostly I start trying to say relax.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
I practed for about two two and a half hours
before my game, especially with all the players, we'd like
to joke around for a little bit. But as soon
as that, yeah, you get closer to game, like thirty
or twenty minutes before your game, I put my ad
phones in, get some music on.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
I listen to some good music to get me in.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
The good vibe and then the yeah, emotional headspace, and
then I'm ready for the game, get focused in and
then yeah, and then it's getting on to the stage
of course, all.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Right, and we're looking forward as I side of seeing
you here in New Zealand. I guess the feature of
these tournaments is that is that our local players, our
best players, get a shot at the world's best. How
dangerous can those matches be for you?

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Very dangerous? Yeah, you've seen it in the past.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
There's a lot of good players from the likes of
New Zealand bars for Australia, so it's I'm very excited
to coin out there spend some time in the lovely
country in New Zealand. But yeah, of course the players
are fantastic there as well, and I think it's a
good opportunity for them to show the world what they're
capable of.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
But yeah, of.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Course the PDCA are going to be the favorite. But
if we're not playing at our full hundred percent, then
we can be in for some real danger because they
are capable of beating us.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
We're really looking forward to having you down here in
New Zealand. John, all the best as you travel down.
We look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.
Thanks for taking the time for a chat.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Today, No problem, Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
No, thank you for joining us, John. Johan fun Fayne
there a Dutch rising star, and as I say, rising
is probably not the right word. He made the World
Championship final against Luke Littler earlier this year at the
at the World Championships at Alexandra Palace. He's one of
eight PDC professionals, so going to be here. Gwin Price
Stephen Bunting, Damon Hitter, James Wade, Johnny Clayton, Josh Rock,

(10:02):
Ross Smith and John Van Fayne are going to be
there at the New Zealand Arts Masters, Spark Arena and
Auckland on Friday August fourteen and Saturday August fifteen. Or
is a great event and the best key we players
are going to get the chance to lock horns with
those PDC professionals and perhaps see if they if they
can cause an upset on the stage at Spark Arena.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news talks at b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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