Transgender darts player Noa-Lynn van Leuven has revealed she has received a torrent of online abuse in the week she won a title in the PDC Women's Series
The 27-year-old Dutchwoman's 5-2 final win against Ireland's Katie Sheldon at the PDC Women's Series event in Wigan on Saturday prompted two of her national female team mates to sensationally quit the team in protest.
van Leuven - who beat 'Queen of the Palace' Fallon Sherrock and world number one Beau Greaves on her way to claiming the £2,000 prize money - has now hit back after being bombarded with vicious comments on social media saying: 'I just want to do my thing, but it seems like people have to comment.'
Anca Zijlstra (second from the left) revealed she was stepping away 'with pain in my heart' - before world number two Aileen de Graaf (far left) quit hours later
But her wins have sparked condemnation of the governing body the Darts Regulation Authority and the PDC over its transgender policy, with tennis star Martina Navratilova wading into the row, saying the win 'stinks' because 'again - women get the short end of the stick'.
Speaking to Darts News, van Leuven said about the reaction to her win: 'But it seems like people have to comment.
'They often don't even read what is written. They immediately have the reflex: so, we can go on. While I see myself as the first woman to win a Challenge Tour tournament'.
Two of Van Leuven's Dutch compatriots have now left their national team in protest following Saturday's win.
Anca Zijlstra revealed she was stepping away 'with pain in my heart' - before world number two Aileen de Graaf quit hours later in vowing to no longer represent the Netherlands.
Zijlstra, 50, wrote on Facebook: 'That moment when you're embarrassed to come out for the Dutch team, because a biological man is playing on the women's team, it's time to go.
'I have tried to accept this but I can't approve or validate this.
'I think that in sports there should be an equal and fair playing field. I hope with all my heart and for all women in sports that people come to their senses.'
De Graaf, 33, said: 'If someone doesn't feel good in the body they were born in, I encourage everyone to change that and be happy. I just don't think it's right for a biological man to throw for the women or vice-versa. It's either mixed or not.'
van Leuven responded via Dutch outlet NOS about her colleagues quitting the team as she said: 'I don't really feel the need to go further into it. This has been their choice and not mine. I think the only unfortunate thing about this issue is that a lot of people forget that I am also a human being.'
The DRA policy starts 'darts is open to all who wish to be involved in any capacity and we encourage all trans and non-binary participants to take part'.
Trans players who wish to take part in the women's must have a testosterone level below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months, it says.
Speaking last year after van Leuven became the first trans woman to compete in a major darting event, PDC CEO Matt Porter said the organisation is 'careful' not to 'call this a men's game'.
'Noa-Lynn has qualified by right,' he said. 'Our governing body, the DRA has a transgender diversity policy that she more than complies with and has done for some time.
'The DRA is our governing body, they follow the guidelines of the IOC. There's an attestation made by a medical professional about testosterone levels. There's various other technicalities regarding identity but as I say Noa-Lyn is more than compliant.'
After joining the Women's Series in 2022 the Dutch player explained that she might not be alive today if had she not transitioned the previous year.
'I think if I didn't have the transition, I wouldn't be here anymore,' she told the PA news agency. 'The last two years before I transitioned were terrible for me, I was depressed, I wasn't having fun in life.
'I didn't have anything to live for, I wasn't in a good space. Then I realised I am trans, I should do something with that or I am not going to make anything out of my life.
'Now I am happy again and I have so much to live for. I really love darts, I love playing it, I love meeting new people and travelling and that is all possible because of darts.'
However, van Leuven's inclusion on the Women's Series has proven contentious among some of her contemporaries with Deta Hedman calling for transgender women to be banned from playing in ranked women's tournaments.
It comes after pool player Lynne Pinches last year refused to play a transgender opponent in the final of a tournament.
Pinches was praised by her brother for 'taking a stand' for forfeiting the game against Harriet Haynes at the Ladies Champions of Champions event in Denbrighshire, Wales.
Footage shows the player approaching the referee to inform them of her decision to forfeit the game and wave goodbye to her chance of winning the tournament.
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