Who is Noa-Lynn van Leuven? Meet the transgender darts star competing at her first World Championship – as she reveals the adversity she faced along the way
She spent the weekend working a double shift in a busy kitchen as a sous chef, so today will be a massive gear change for Noa-Lynn van Leuven when she makes history as the first transgender darts player to take part in the World Championship at Ally Pally.
The Dutch player, 28, will kick off her World Championship campaign on Tuesday when she takes on Kevin Doets for the chance to face Michael Smith in round two.
From starting her transition as a teenager to joining the women’s tour, van Leuven revealed she suffered with suicidal thoughts and that she feels her transition saved her life.
Now, her focus is on darts, as she tries to advance in the tournament, though, in making history, attention is also on her career as a whole.
She got the better of Beau Greaves in the Women’s Series 21 in October to secure qualification for this winter’s tournament, winning 5-3 in the final and averaging 109.64. Form like that would serve her well at the Ally Pally.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven is the first transgender darts star in the history of the competition
She will make her Alexandra Palace debut on Tuesday in the afternoon session in round one
She started her transition as a teenager as she gave up darts for a number of years
She also defeated Trina Gulliver, Mikuru Suzuki, Lisa Ashton and Lorraine Hyde on her way to a fourth title of 2024.
There are two qualifying spots open for female players specifically, with Greaves, who is ranked No 1 in the PDC Women’s Series Order of Merit, ineligible to feature after winning her third consecutive WDF women’s world title earlier this year.
Therefore, the two spots went to van Leuven and Fallon Sherrock.
Born in 1996, van Leuven began considering transitioning at the age of 16 and started the process officially as a teenager.
She previously told PA that she struggled with depression prior to the process, and suggested she ‘wouldn’t be here’ had she not transitioned.
It has been reported that her transition was completed in 2021.
She started playing darts as a youngster, opting to take it seriously at the age of 12. But, struggling with her identity, she previously told the Guardian that she stopped playing when she began transitioning.
In 2022, she debuted at the PDC Women’s Series. Since then, she has gone onto win the Belgium and Denmark Opens, the Malta Masters, the Malta Open, the PDC Challenge Tour and the PDC Women’s Series four times.
She will take on fellow Dutch star Kevin Doets in the first round for the chance to take on former world champion Michael Smith
The 28-year-old defeated Beau Greaves in the Women’s Series 21 in October to secure qualification for the Worlds
Aileen de Graaf (left) recently refused to play alongside van Leuven, while Deta Hedman (right) would not play against her
She has also claimed titles in the 2024 WDF Europe Cup, winning the women’s pairs, women’s team and women’s overall titles.
First up on Tuesday, she will take on fellow Dutch star Kevin Doets in round one. The first dart is due to be thrown at 1:40 in the second game of the afternoon session.
Should she win that, she will take on former world champion Michael Smith in round two. And in the event she gets even further, she would face either Krzysztof Ratajski, Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo in the third round.
In the build-up to the event, she has hit out at criticism that she has an advantage when at the oche. She said: ‘Sometimes I’m accused of having an advantage over others because of my height. But look at Beau. We’re the same height. Or look at Phil Taylor. He’s beaten everyone and he’s a small guy.
‘Others see an alleged advantage in the movements of my hips. I would stand differently than CIS women. Then there are people who come up with a study from handball, according to which there are differences between men and women in the throw, specifically in the backswing, and also in the lunge movement.
‘So, the last time I played darts, I didn’t do a backswing or a lunge. It’s f***ing darts. What are we talking about?’
Though she has received support from the likes of defending champion and World No 1 Luke Humphries, that hasn’t been the case with everyone. In the build-up to her World Championship debut, she told Welt am Sonntag: ‘It feels like everyone is against me. I know that’s not the case, but it just feels that way sometimes. In any case, they want to see me lose.’
Dutch team-mates Aileen de Graaf and Anca Zijlstra have recently refused to play with her and English player Deta Hedman against her.
Hedman said: I’m not playing against a man in a women’s event. I have no issues with Trans but they should play in an open section IMO.’
PDC chief executive Matt Porter insisted last month that the current policy on transgender players is ‘fair’.
