A transgender woman will take one of the two female qualifying spots at the PDC World Darts Championship after clinching her place this weekend.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven booked her spot at Alexandra Palace with a dominant 5-3 victory over world No 1 Beau Greaves to win the Women’s Series 21.
Her place at the sport’s top darts contest will be a point of contention within the women’s game. Darts is one of many sports in civil war over protections for women’s participation, but female darts players have been threatened with disciplinary action if they refuse to play transgender opponents.
Van Leuven takes one of two qualifying spots available from the Women’s Series Order of Merit. England’s Greaves, 20, is top of that list but is instead attempting to defend her WDF Women’s World Championship title. Fallon Sherrock is currently in the second qualification spot,behind Van Leuven, but booked her spot through winning the Women’s Series 23 title.
Deta Hedman, who has twice refused to play transender opponents, had pulled out of a match in May against Van Leuven over the effect that being forced to play a trans woman had on her “mental health”.
However, last month the World Darts Federation said: “Once the first dart has been thrown in a tournament, any player that subsequently withdraws from playing a match may be considered to be bringing the game into disrepute and could face disciplinary action.”
Van Leuven, 28, secured her place at the PDC top event, meanwhile, following a dominant victory over Greaves, with a 109.64 average in Leicester. Never before has a transgender woman competed in the highlight of the darting calendar which will be held at London’s Alexandra Palace from December 15 to January 3. Van Leuven previously defeated Greaves 5-4 to secure the Series Event 15 title in Germany in August.
“I set off well but before I knew it she [Van Leuven] just power-housed me!” Greaves said after the heavy loss. “Sometimes in darts you’ve just got to allow it to happen and that was one of those days for me.
“Fair play to her, she played really well and she deserved the win. I fell asleep at times where I should have been hitting more trebles and she punished me.”
Van Leuven also defeated Trina Gulliver, Mikuru Suzuki and Lisa Ashton during her run in the event, and beat Scotland’s emerging Lorraine Hyde in the semi-finals on her way to a fourth title of 2024.
The Dutchwoman transitioned in 2021 and joined the Women’s Series the following year. She also created history by becoming the first transgender woman to play in a televised darts tournament in July when she appeared at the Women’s World Matchplay in Blackpool.
Hedman has previously called on the PDC and the WDF to exclude trans women from women’s tournaments.
