Premier League Darts results: Stephen Bunting beats Gian van Veen to win night four in Belfast

Stephen Bunting silenced his critics by handing Gian van Veen his third final defeat of the season to win the fourth night of the Premier League in Belfast.

The 40-year-old player’s place in the tournament was questioned by the audience as he could not win a match in the first three weeks.

This comes after ‘The Bullet’ took nine weeks to score points at last year’s event; this was her first participation since becoming a contestant in 2020.

Bunting, who left social media due to criticism, achieved the highest average (106.63) in the Premier League by beating the last champion Luke Humphries 6-4 in the quarter-finals.

With a 6-0 clean sheet against current league leader Jonny Clayton in the semi-final, he backed up another 106 average before a clinical 6-2 win over Van Veen in the final.

“I believe I’m one of the best players in the world; I deserve to be in the Premier League,” Bunting told Sky Sports.

“Everyone was writing me off, people were saying I shouldn’t be in this, but I know how hard I work behind the scenes. These are the nights I’m playing.

“Losing seven or eight in a row last year really helped me, it gave me a lot of experience in that area. When you play in the Premier League, you play against the best of the best. This ranks as one of the best wins of my career.”

Playing in the tournament for the first time, Van Veen is impressive by making three finals in four weeks, but is having difficulty getting over the line.

Northern Ireland’s Josh Rock, the other player making his debut on the course this year, lost 6-2 to Van Veen in the quarters, but delighted the home crowd with his first nine-dart shot of this year’s tournament.

On the other hand, there was further disappointment for world number one Luke Littler, who lost 6-3 to Clayton in the quarter-finals, meaning he had won just one match in four weeks.