Noa-Lynn van Leuven made history last weekend, becoming the first trans woman ever to win a tournament on the PDC Challenge Tour.
Reason for satisfaction for Van Leuven, although she also had to deal with several negative comments. “I just want to do my thing,” she says to AD.nl. “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”.
Those negative comments got worse and worse. “You don’t belong at a tournament like this” and “I hope you drop dead” are some of the offerings she has had to deal with. Multiple World Championship participant Deta Hedman even wrote an extensive argument against transwomen within women’s darts. Among other things, she cited that trans women do not experience menstrual complaints and thus have an advantage. Hedman thereby referred to several studies.
“Yes, that did do something to me,” says Van Leuven. “There’s a constant search for new points. Then everyone goes wild. Whether I fear that someone will ever refuse to play against me, as happened in snooker? Something like that is in the back of my mind. I don’t know what it would do to me. You can say, ‘thank you, I’ll be one round ahead,’ but yes…. We all want to do what we enjoy: darts without the hassle.”
However, the 27-year-old Dutchwoman, who transitioned from male to female at age 17, is especially eager to answer critics on the board. She is now ninth on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. At the end of the year, the top two may participate in the World Darts Championship. “Playing against Michael Van Gerwen. That would be something, wouldn’t it?”
