Noa-Lynn van Leuven posted this image of herself on her social media accounts this week. | Noa-Lynn van Leuven on Facebook

Noa-Lynn van Leuven, one of the world’s leading players in women’s darts, says members of the World Darts Federation have voted to exclude her from women’s tournaments.

The Dutch athlete, who is a trans woman, says she is awaiting an announcement after learning that WDF member organizations were balloted on the matter at the governing body’s annual general meeting held Tuesday in Slovakia ahead of the Europe Cup tournament.

The WDF has told Outsports that clarification on its rules will be provided “in due course.”

Van Leuven was cleared to play in women’s competitions in 2022 after undergoing tests in her homeland.

She has since competed in more than 20 events controlled by the WDF, which is the governing body for amateur darts, winning four rankings titles and rising to fifth in the world.

The 27-year-old is also permitted to play in women-only tournaments organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which is based in the U.K. and operates pro events overseas too. The PDC offers significantly bigger prize pots compared to those in the WDF.

Most of the PDC’s events are non-gendered, and there is no suggestion that they are looking to restrict the participation of trans women.

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Van Leuven posted to social media: “While the Openings ceremony of the Europe Cup is happening right now, there is also other things happening behind the scenes… Especially on trying to get trans people excluded from sports.

“As it stands now, Trans people are getting cancelled within the WDF. When is it going to happen? No one knows yet! But the members voted for it today…”

When contacted by Outsports about Van Leuven’s comments, a WDF spokesperson said: “The WDF Executive are in the process of digesting various items from Tuesday’s AGM. Any updates to WDF rules or playing regulations will be clarified by the WDF in due course.”

The vote on excluding trans women from women’s darts was taken following an amendment put forward by England Darts, which has already enacted such a ban in its tournaments.

Outsports understands that not all members were present at the AGM and of those that were, 20 voted for the ban, 11 voted against, and 13 abstained.

In March, Van Leuven was backed by the Dutch Darts Federation after two players said they would quit the national team over her ongoing involvement in the women’s team.

The following month, the WDF issued a statement saying its position on trans inclusion was unchanged but that “any definitive studies” that were presented in the future would be “reviewed appropriately”.

That statement referred back to a report presented to WDF members at last year’s AGM, which summarized the then-existing research and concluded that “clearer studies on visuospatial differences” were needed if its tran policy were to be discontinued.

In April, the lead researcher of a newly-published study comparing the strength, power and aerobic capacity of trans athletes with cisgender athletes advised international federations “to treat trans women very differently to cis men” when undertaking policy reviews.

Professor Yannis Pitsiladis told Outsports that his research “stresses the need for studies to be conducted in trained individuals / athletes… The use of non-trained individuals / non-athletes (cis and trans) is also of limited to no use.”

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Backing out and bullying

In May, Van Leuven was competing in the Denmark Open when her scheduled quarterfinal opponent, Deta Hedman of England, forfeited their match, saying “I wouldn’t play a man in a ladies’ event.” They had faced each other competitively three times before in the PDC Women’s Series.

Since then, Hedman has campaigned for trans women to be banned from women’s darts.

Van Leuven told the i paper in July that she was “not comfortable” playing in the WDF any more. “Every time I play a tournament in the WDF, something happens against me,” she said. “Either bullying, or in Wales someone even threw a tennis ball at me and it hit me full in the face.”

Van Leuven said that as a result, she no longer planned to enter WDF events being held in the U.K.

In late August, the WDF warned players that if they withdrew from a tournament “once the first dart had been thrown”, they faced the threat of disciplinary action.

Subsequently, Hedman pulled out of September’s WDF World Masters in Hungary before it began.

“I can’t give a 100% guarantee on that matter [of fulfilling matches],” said the 64-year-old.

Hedman is currently in Slovakia for the Europe Cup managing the England women’s team but not playing. She said she attended the AGM, writing on Facebook: “A remit put into the WDF from England seconded by Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, that outlined WDF Women’s darts both Women and Girls would be for biological born women.”

Meanwhile, in the PDC Women’s Series, Van Leuven is currently ranked second in the Order of Merit behind women’s world no 1, Beau Greaves.

If the Dutchwoman retains her position when the series concludes in Leicester next month, she will qualify for November’s PDC Grand Slam of Darts and the PDC World Darts Championship — the biggest and most lucrative tournament in the sport — for the first time in her career.

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