Dutch darts player Noa-Lynn van Leuven banned from PDC circuit

Dutch darts player Noa-Lynn van Leuven has been excluded from the PDC darts circuit because she is a transgender woman.

Van Leuven, 29, may now only take part in the “open” category for men and women after the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) decided transgender women have a slight physical advantage over women and should no longer be allowed to take part.

Developmental biologist Emma Hilton said in a report for the DRA that men are taller than women, have wider shoulders, more muscle mass and better hand-eye coordination. This, she said, makes darts a sport which is “influenced by gender”.

The DRA governs the rules for the PDC tournaments. Van Leuven was earlier banned from the WDF circuit’s competitions for women, which includes the Dutch darts board.

Van Leuven one of the very few, if not the only, transgender woman who has made waves on the circuit.

“I’ve just had an email and apparently I have to retire,” she said in a video on social media. “This is not voluntary, but because I can no longer take part in competitions.

Van Leuven has won six PDC women’s tournaments and twice taken part in the world championships, which is predominantly for men. She is currently ranked ninth in the women’s series.

Last year, Van Leuven became the first Dutch woman to qualify for the PDC World Championship, and she played in the Women’s World Matchplay in Blackpool on Sunday.

“It has taken me years to get here,” she said in the video. “I turn up, I participate and I have respected the sport every day, absolutely every day. And now I am told that I no longer belong.”