Noa-Lynn van Leuven is set to break new ground as the first transgender player at the World Darts Championship, but she insists her identity should not overshadow her darts prowess.
The 28-year-old Dutchwoman, who transitioned in 2021, will make history on Tuesday by facing Kevin Doets in the opening round.
Van Leuven secured her spot at Alexandra Palace with impressive Women’s Series performances and is determined to let her skills take centre stage. “It’s going to be a big achievement for me and for my kind of people,” she told the PA news agency.
“But I guess I just want to be Noa. I just want to play darts and not always having to talk about the fact I’m also transgender.
“I’m a darts player and I’m terribly good at it. But I guess it’s a big thing and I’m also the first Dutchwoman to play on the Alexandra Palace stage.”
Reflecting on her journey, she added: “If I look back, like a year, I wouldn’t even think about going to Ally Pally, maybe to watch as a fan, but not to play.
“And I’m on that stage, it’s a big achievement for me. I worked my ass off for it the whole year. And I think, like, the last half year, I actually thought, ‘OK, I might actually reach Ally Pally if I continue this form’.”
Despite her darting ambitions, Van Leuven, who travelled to London after a gruelling double shift as a junior sous chef, has no plans to hang up her kitchen apron. With Q school on the horizon in January to vie for a PDC Tour card, she still cherishes her culinary career.
“I don’t mind working in the kitchen, and I think it’s one of my hobbies,” she concluded. “I’ve got two major hobbies, one of them is darts, and one of them is cooking. So I made both of them my job.
“I’ve been working in kitchens now for like 12 years, and I’ve been out of them in between for like one-and-a-half year, and I really miss cooking.”
“So I’m not sure if I will ever go full-time on the darts. Maybe if it’s getting too busy, I will say I’m just going to focus on the darts, but for now, I enjoy my time in the kitchen.”
She concluded by highlighting the therapeutic aspect of her work: “It also is a bit of a stress relief for me. We all know Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and sometimes it can be like that in our kitchen, but I enjoy working there.”
