Luke Humphries picked out Gian van Veen as a major threat to himself and Luke Littler at this year’s World Darts Championship.

Van Veen produced the performance of the tournament so far with a 108.28 average as he beat Scotland’s Alan Soutar in the second round on Monday.

Humphries, who thrashed Paul Lim 3-0 in the same session, and Van Veen are in line to meet in the quarter-finals should they win their next two matches after Christmas.

Asked about whether players have stepped up during the World Championship so far, with 14 of the 32 seeds knocked out already, Humphries brought up Van Veen unprompted.

He said: “There are so many great players out there. Gian is definitely one of them that is capable of beating, me for sure, he’s beaten me quite a few times, he’s definitely capable of beating Luke as well.

“It’s not about people stepping up. It’s about people trying to break the fold of us making finals all the time. But there are definitely players out there that can do it. It’s just you have to prove it over a consistent manner. You can’t have one time, then six or 12 months not doing it again.”

Van Veen has won all four of his matches against Humphries this year and won his first senior major title by claiming the European Championship.

Humphries, who plays Germany’s Gabriel Clemens in the third round before a potential match with Nathan Aspinall in the fourth round, says the 23-year-old Dutchman is a “superstar”.

“A quarter-final would be really lovely to play against him. I’ve lost three times on TV to him this year, and I felt like a couple of them I should have won,” he said.

“I’m not looking for revenge or anything like that, because that doesn’t faze me, but I’d love to beat the best players to win this tournament.

“If I beat Gabriel [Clemens] in the next one, possibly, and then I’m playing Nathan [Aspinall], and I beat him, and I beat Gian, and then I’m playing Michael [van Gerwen], then maybe Luke Littler in the final, you know that you’ve really worked hard and earned that right of being world champion.

“I’d love to play [Van Veen] in the quarter-finals. He’s in that cauldron of me and Luke being the three top darts players in the world right now. He’s in form, and I’d have to really play well to beat him, but he’d also have to play really well to beat me.”

Van Veen focusing on ‘my own game’

Van Veen, who has won the last two world youth titles, will play veteran Latvian Madars Razma in the last 32.

The Dutch players admits he can have a deep run at the World Championship if he continues to play at a high level, having previously not won a game at Alexandra Palace prior to this year.

He said: “For myself, I just look at my own game. I don’t look at winning the tournament and I don’t look at comparing myself to Luke [Littler] or Luke [Humphries] or other players. I just want to go as far as I possibly can.

“Before the tournament I was third or fourth favourite with the bookies and after Gezzy [Gerwyn Price] losing I was third favourite, but I didn’t put extra pressure on myself.

“I’ve just felt really comfortable on the stage the last two games and that’s what I’m going to take into the rest of the tournament – hopefully it can continue this way.”

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