For Dutch darts professional Noa-Lynn van Leuven, the PDC Grand Slam of Darts opened at Wolverhampton, UK Saturday with the formidable task of facing the current world number two player and three-time world champion in countryman Michael van Gerwen.
The pre-match boos against the first transgender woman to compete in the event didn’t help.
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She had a 2 legs-to-1 lead on England’s Ryan Joyce who mounted a charge to win 5-3 on Sunday. Elimination came Tuesday as van Leuven was dropped 5-2 by two-time world champion Gary Anderson of Scotland.
“What she does is simply amazing and she is an incredibly good darts player. Let her play. For me, there has never been a discussion,” van Gerwen stated to the Dutch outlet AD.nl prior to Saturday’s match. “You have to respect everyone for who they are. Where someone comes from? What someone looks like? What difference does that make? Even if you come from Pluto. Of course people are allowed to have a different opinion, but I don’t understand why people get so angry about it.”
The anger against her built up through a breakthrough 2023 season and in her PDC Challenger Tour debut in Germany in March 2024. She became the first woman to even win an event in the series for player seeking their PDC tour card who did attend the PDC’s qualifying school. Off that win she set a goal of earning her tour card for 2025.
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Throughout 2024, she has also been a target of threat to ban her from play from other governing bodies such as the World Darts Federation, the governing body for amateur competition.
Van Leuven has also been a target of opposing players pulling out of matches in the WDF Women’s Series. The rash of forfeits, mainly by British players, led the WDF threatening disciplinary action against player who withdraw during a match. Van Leuven also responded by telling the UK-based news outlet i that she no longer planned to compete in WDF events in the UK.
“Every time I play a tournament in the WDF, something happens against me,” she said. “Either bullying, or in Wales someone even threw a tennis ball at me and it hit me full in the face.”
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“Noa-Lynn and other have been playing under that rule for a number years now,” Porter said. “Noa-Lynn started to achieve more success, hence the opposition which has become more vocal which is the way of the world I guess. It is something we respect, but ultimately we have a policy in place and it’s one we are comfortable with.”
* Original Article:
https://www.outsports.com/2024/11/14/24103764/pdc-grand-slam-van-leuven-swept-anderson-royce-van-gerwen/