In a move that has significant ramifications for a pioneering athlete and reignites the broader debate surrounding transgender participation in sport, the World Darts Federation (WDF) has officially announced new eligibility rules that ban transgender women from competing in its women's tournaments.
The decision, which took effect on Monday, July 28, immediately impacts Dutch darts star Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
Van Leuven, who made history as the first openly transgender player to compete in televised PDC events, including the PDC World Darts Championship, is now ineligible for WDF-sanctioned women's competitions.
The new policy, confirmed after a vote by WDF member nations, restricts entry to women's and girls' events to "participants recorded female at birth."
Transgender men who have commenced hormone treatment are also barred from these categories.
The WDF released a statement acknowledging the complexity of the issue, stating, "Transgender participation in darts is a complex, evolving subject... A vote on the matter was held in September 2024... 20 voted for a ban on trans women playing women's darts, 11 voted against, and 13 abstained."
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The organisation stated its aim to "deliver on the vote in a way that ensures the sport remains accessible to all and ensures that transgender participants can enjoy playing darts without any form of discrimination."
Under the new WDF guidelines, transgender women and girls will now be eligible only for the "Open" and "Open Youth" categories, which are inclusive of male players.
"We understand these changes may be challenging for people who want to compete in darts in the gender which they are now registered as," the WDF statement concluded.
Van Leuven herself had anticipated this outcome.
Last September, following the initial vote by WDF members, she posted on social media that transgender players were being "cancelled" within the WDF.
She had previously won multiple titles on the PDC Women's Series, where the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) operates under a different policy.
The PDC, which governs most professional darts events, continues to maintain a more inclusive stance.
PDC chief executive Matt Porter has defended their policy, stating in November 2024, "Ultimately, we came up with a policy that we believe to be fair.
PDC
"We respect the fact that not everybody agrees with that and we accept that it's not a unanimously accepted position."
The WDF's decision aligns with recent policy shifts in other sports, such as swimming (World Aquatics) and athletics (World Athletics), which have moved to exclude transgender women who went through male puberty from female international competitions.
These changes highlight a growing divergence among sporting federations on the issue of gender eligibility.
For Noa-Lynn van Leuven, a player who has consistently stated her love for the sport and her desire to compete, this WDF ban marks a significant hurdle in her professional darts journey, forcing her to focus exclusively on organisations like the PDC that maintain more inclusive women's categories.
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