“I’m proud of myself”: no stunt for trans darter Noa-Lynn van Leuven at the World Cup, but almost an iconic moment

“We’ll see if they whistle at me again. I don’t care about it. Being the first Dutch woman there is the ultimate middle finger for me,” Van Leuven said before the World Cup. She was booed at the Grand Slam of Darts, but now it was much less so. And in the first set things went smoothly for Van Leuven, who won three legs in a row and took the set.

Then she also seemed to be making progress in set two, until doubles were missed. Van Leuven and Doets kept missing in the third leg. Ultimately it was Doets who finished it off with his 33rd (!) arrow on double 1. Good for 2-1 in legs. Doets also took the second set and advanced to 2-1 in sets while Van Leuven was fighting with himself.

In the fourth set we almost got an iconic moment. Van Leuven hit two 180s and seemed to be on his way to a nine-darter. The Dutchwoman then missed her seventh ‘perfect’ arrow and came to 2-2 in the set. In that decisive leg, however, Doets was too strong: 3-1.

“It was really tough,” Doets said afterwards. “Noa-Lynn certainly played better in the beginning. I was lucky today, I had to fight every leg. Fortunately the audience was great, both for me and for Noa-Lynn. And now again Michael Smith (whom he almost beat last year, ed.)? When I looked at the draw, it felt like I was getting another chance to beat him.”

Normally there is no official press conference for the loser, but an exception was made for Van Leuven. About fifteen journalists stood in line for an interview.

“I am proud of myself,” Van Leuven began her story. “And I’m also quite satisfied with how I stood here. I’ll still think about this. I also started well, then I missed some opportunities… But yes, I know what I have to work on. I want to become one of the best darts players in the world and then you have to participate in these types of tournaments. Hopefully I will be here again next year.”