Transgender darts player Noa-Lynn van Leuven won two titles against both men and women in the same week, sparking fury and prompting two female teammates to quit. The Mail has more.
The 27-year-old Dutchman’s 5-2 final win against Ireland’s Katie Sheldon at the PDC Women’s Series event in Wigan on Saturday prompted two of his national female team mates to sensationally quit the team in protest.
Van Leuven – who beat ‘Queen of the Palace’ Fallon Sherrock and world number one Beau Greaves on his way to claiming the £2,000 prize money – has now hit back after being bombarded with vicious comments on social media saying: “I just want to do my thing, but it seems like people have to comment.”
The victory comes just a week after van Leuven made history by becoming the first trans woman to win a PDC Tour event on the Challenge Tour in Hildesheim, Germany.
But his wins have sparked condemnation of the governing body the Darts Regulation Authority and the PDC over its transgender policy, with tennis star Martina Navratilova wading into the row, saying the win “stinks” because “again – women get the short end of the stick”.
Speaking to Darts News, van Leuven said about the reaction to his win: “But it seems like people have to comment.
“They often don’t even read what is written. They immediately have the reflex: so, we can go on. While I see myself as the first woman to win a Challenge Tour tournament.”
Two of Van Leuven’s Dutch compatriots have now left their national team in protest following Saturday’s win.
Anca Zijlstra revealed she was stepping away “with pain in my heart” –- before world number two Aileen de Graaf quit hours later in vowing to no longer represent the Netherlands.
Zijlstra, 50, 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, 33, said: “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.”
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.