Darts Champion Tearfully Announces Retirement After Ban on Transgender Players: ‘Not My Choice’
Noa-Lynn van Leuven. Credit: John Walton/PA Images via Getty NEED TO KNOW Noa-Lynn van Leuven announced her "retirement" after a new ruling from the Darts Regulation Authority barred transgender women from competing in women’s darts "Every day, it's getting harder and harder for trans people just to exist, to compete," van Leuven said The DRA ruling comes on the heels of the recent IOC ruling, which barred transgender women from women's Olympic sports Noa-Lynn van Leuven is retiring from darts — but not of her own volition. The professional darts player and reigning Dutch champion, 29, shared an emotional goodbye message to her sport after the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) ruled that transgender women will not be able to compete in women's competitions on Thursday, April 9.
"I just got an email. Apparently, I just got retired. Not by choice, but because I'm no longer allowed to compete," she began in a video on Instagram.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven. Credit: John Walton/PA Images via Getty She continued, tearing up as she spoke: "I've worked so damn hard, for years, just to get here," she said, but added the DRA's decision is effectively "being told I don't belong anymore. " The ruling, which the DRA said was informed by research from academic developmental biologist Dr.
Emma Hilton, determined darts is a "gender-affected sport. " Per the ruling, Hilton's research found "that multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts. " Hilton's findings fueled the DRA's decision to allow "only biological females" to be eligible to compete in tournaments under its regulation, effective April 5.
This new ruling replaces the organization's earlier Trans and Gender Diverse Policy. "Every day, it's getting harder and harder for trans people just to exist, to compete," van Leuven said. "We just want to be.