Two Female Darts Players Quit Dutch Team After Male Wins Men's And Women's Pro Events In Same Week
Noa-Lynn van Leuven, a trans-identifying male, won both a men’s and women’s professional darts title last week. Now, two female Dutch players have had enough.
Van Leuven took home the title at the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Challenge Tour 6 on March 15 — collecting more than $3,000 in prize money. Then, he won the PDC Women's Series title in Wigan on Saturday — putting another $2,500 in the bank.
Following that event, two darts players (and Van Leuven's teammates) — Aileen de Graaf and Anca Zijlstra — quit the Dutch Women’s Team in protest.
Zijlstra issued a statement on her Facebook page.
"With pain in my heart… The moment I am ashamed to play for the Dutch Team, because a biological man plays for the women’s team, it is time to go," she wrote. "I have tried to accept this but I cannot condone this. I believe that in sports there should be an equal and fair playing field, which should be used and accepted in good faith. After all, we have worked so hard to be relevant and competitive in this sport."
Zijlstra also announced she would resign from the Nederlandse Darts Bond (NBD), the governing body for the sport in the Netherlands, for its role in allowing males to self-identify into women’s categories.
"I have always considered it an honor to represent our country, and I will always be open to returning to the National Team. I hope with all my heart and for all women in sports that people come to their senses. This decision was not easy and was very difficult. 1991 is the first time that I proudly put on the shirt for the Netherlands."
With the resignation of Zijlstra and de Graaf, the Dutch Women’s Team now consists only of Van Leuven and three other players.
Current World Darts policy requires that transgender players must have a testosterone level below 10 nmo/L for at least 12 months. That's still four times the upper limit for testosterone in biological females.