Van Leuven admits she felt “done in darts” after shock ban from women’s events

NOA LYNN VAN LEUVEN has revealed she was left feeling like she was “done in darts” after being hit by a shock ban from women’s events.

The Dutch thrower was caught by surprise when the Darts Regulation Authority introduced new rules preventing transgender women from competing in female competitions.

As part of the process, the governing body commissioned a report from developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton, which concluded that “multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts.”

Van Leuven, 30, who became the first openly transgender player to compete at the PDC World Championships and win a Challenge Tour title, admitted the decision has completely thrown her season into turmoil.

She told the Weekly Dartscast: “Well, to be fair, it actually got me by surprise.

“I didn't know something like this was going on. I wasn't expecting it and also not really in the middle of a season.

“And like I've said before, the reasons why I just don't get them. But yeah, it is what it is, I guess.”

Van Leuven had picked up SIX titles on the PDC women’s series and made the semi-final of the women’s world matchplay.

But The Duchess is no longer eligible to compete on the Women’s Series and has instead turned to WDF and Challenge Tour events to keep developing her game.

She added: “Well, to be fair, in the first few weeks, it actually felt like I was done in darts.

“But like I also said, I'm not ready to step away from the game. I just want to keep playing the game and I enjoy it way too much.

“But it's being made a whole lot more difficult to play darts for me right now.

“If I'm playing WDF events right now, I'm not playing them because I want to reach Lakeside because I don't think I can, because I only have like two months left and there's not that many tournaments.

“Yeah, challenge tour, I wanted to play them to improve my game. Then the news came out and I was like, yeah, I can play them and I can try to improve my game.

“But my whole season just got kind of blown up. So, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to have fun in darts. And I was like, yeah, am I gonna spend the money to take the trip over to the UK?

“The entries are quite high. So, I was like, yeah, am I gonna do that to try and find fun in darts again? Or am I going to stick to things I know?

“Or am I going to try to see a little bit more of the world? And so I did. I went to Sweden.

“I went to Switzerland. I'm hoping to catch one or two more WDF events this year. Yeah, it's a bit different than a year ago.”

Words: Aaron Nijjar

Image: Taylor Lanning