Bleeding darts star suffers staggering injury beating Michael van Gerwen

Gian van Veen played through bloody fingers to secure his spot in the final of the European Championships. The World Youth Champion was in flying form at Dortmund's Westfalenhalle on Sunday evening, beating Michael van Gerwen 11-9 in a best of 21.

However, he will head into his championship decider against either Luke Humphries or Danny Noppert in discomfort. That's because the 23-year-old Dutchman staggeringly wore down a chunk of the skin on the thumb of his throwing hand during his encounter with Van Gerwen. Showing off the minor injury after the match, Van Veen said: "I'm a bit bleeding.

"I've got a very heavy grip on my dart which I love, but today it really hit me in a wrong point and I hold my dart here as well. So that's why I was struggling on stage as well, you know?

"This is what I used on stage and you can see all the blood splatters. And it's not ideal, but I got the job done and that's what matters."

When asked if the injury would be a problem in the final, Van Veen added: "During the game, I already thought it was a problem and I already thought I would have lost because of that. But I didn't.

"And it was a mental battle as well, because the blood got a bit slippery as well and my dart was slipping all over the place. But I got the job done and I'm going to focus now for the final.

"I'm going to sort this out. Hopefully it stops bleeding and I'll be ready."

Van Veen stepped up to the oche leading 10-9 with a checkout of 40 to make his way to the final, coolly converting a double top to secure his place. It comes as the youngster's first-ever PDC final, but he will face stiff competition in either World No. 1 Humphries or seasoned pro Noppert to take the title.