Noa-Lynn van Leuven is refusing to quit darts after being banned from competing in women's events, despite admitting she no longer knows "how to have fun" in the sport. Van Leuven, who transitioned in 2021, previously competed in women-only tournaments before the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) introduced new rules preventing transgender women from taking part in female competitions.
DRA report finds male advantage
As part of the rule change, a report commissioned by the DRA found that "multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts". The ruling has disrupted Van Leuven's career, and she opened up about its impact during a recent appearance on the Weekly Dartscast.
"To be fair, it actually got me by surprise," said the 29-year-old, who previously became the first openly transgender player to compete at the World Darts Championship and win a Challenge Tour title. "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."
Turning to WDF and Challenge Tour
Rather than walking away from the sport, Van Leuven has turned to WDF and Challenge Tour events to keep developing her game. However, she admitted she is not having anywhere near as much fun as she did when competing in women's events.
"In the first few weeks, it actually felt like I was done in darts," she added. "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."
Season plans disrupted
Van Leuven explained how the ban has thrown her season into uncertainty. "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," she said.
"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."
She added: "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."
