Noa-Lynn van Leuven was beaten 3-1 by compatriot Kevin Doets at the Paddy Power PDC World Championship, but won over the Ally Pally crowd with her performance
Noa-Lynn van Leuven won the hearts of the Ally Pally crowd with her performance, even in a 3-1 defeat to fellow Dutch competitor Kevin Doets. She applauded the Professional Darts Corporation for their progressive approach in embracing trans athletes where other sports may shut them out.
Despite previous instances of exclusion, for example, when Netherlands team-mates Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf refused to compete on the same team as Van Leuven, or England’s Deta Herman pulled out of the Denmark Open quarter-final—Van Leuven received support from the fans, particularly after she led, taking the first set against her adversary by hitting six 180s and showcasing superior high finishes. Yet, her 20 rounds without a treble ultimately denied her victory at the Paddy Power PDC World Championship.
Reflecting on her experience and naysayers, she stated: “Anyone who is discriminating against me, or being terrible to me, it says more about them than me – I just want to play darts. The PDC have been really supportive and they stand behind their own rules. At the Grand Slam there was a bit of booing at my first game but I didn’t expect the crowd here to be hostile, I hoped they would be with me and I thought they were with me.
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“In the end, I guess the difference was inexperience. I want to become a better player, and the only way I’m going to do that is by being up on that stage competing against the best players. Obviously I want to come back next year and I’ll go to Q school in three weeks to try and win a tour card.”
Doets now faces a rematch with former world champion ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith, who defeated him on the opening night last year, in the second round. “It was tough, very tough – especially at the beginning,” Doets told Sky Sports. “She played better than I did at the beginning and it was really hard.
“In every World Championships, there is a leg like that [the first leg]. Every single leg I was just fighting, fighting, fighting. The crowd were amazing – they didn’t boo anyone. They didn’t boo me, they were great.
“I knew I had to beat Noa first, but it feels like the Gods wanted to give me another chance [against Smith]. It’s a really good feeling and hopefully I beat him on Thursday.”
