Only a few days after winning a championship against men, a trans darts player won a women-only competition.
On Saturday, Noa-Lynn van Leuven won the £2,500 prize in the PDC Women’s Series. This victory follows her recent success against male competitors.
However, her achievement has stirred a heated debate.
Renowned tennis champion Martina Navratilova is a vocal advocate for women’s sports. The 18-time Grand Slam tennis champ expressed vehement opposition to Van Leuven’s participation.
She said: “No male bodies in women’s sports please — not even in darts.”
Martina won nine Wimbledon titles and dominated women’s tennis in the 1970s and 1980s. She vented on X, saying: “Again — women get the short end of the stick. And it stinks.”
The aftermath of Van Leuven’s victory saw notable reactions from within the darts fraternity. Two of her compatriots from the Netherlands made the decision to step away from the national team in protest.
In a heartfelt statement, world number 12 Anca Zijlstra expressed her disillusionment with the situation. She said that she was moving away “with pain in my heart.”
A few hours later, world number two Aileen de Graaf followed her. She stated that she would no longer represent the Netherlands.
Zijlstra wrote on Facebook: “That moment when you’re embarrassed to come out for the Dutch team, because a biological man is playing on the women’s team, it’s time to go. I have tried to accept this but I can’t approve or validate this.”
“I think that in sports there should be an equal and fair playing field. I hope with all my heart and for all women in sports that people come to their senses.”
De Graaf also wrote: “If someone doesn’t feel good in the body they were born in, I encourage everyone to change that and be happy. I just don’t think it’s right for a biological man to throw for the women or vice-versa. It’s either mixed or not.”
Van Leuven defeated Ireland’s Katie Sheldon and English world number one Beau Greaves in the championship match to claim the £2,000 winner’s pool. Additionally, she also defeated Fallon Sherrock—the first female winner of a PDC World Championships match in 2019.
Van Leuven became a member of the Women’s Series a year after transitioning in 2022.
She previously stated: “It sucks, but I try not to let it get too much into my head. It is very hard. It has been tough for the last two years. There are a few trans players, but I guess I’m the only one who can throw really good darts, so they want to get rid of me.”