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After Noa-Lynn Van Leuven made history this weekend as the first out trans competitor to participate in the Grand Slam of Darts, reigning darts world champion Luke Humphries offered words of support.
“I think she [Van Leuven] will enjoy — that group is a great challenge for her. She will enjoy the chance to play two of the greatest players that have ever been, Michael and Gary,” Humphries said, according to sports outlet talkSPORT. “I don’t know Noa-Lynn very well, to be honest — I’ve only met her once before at the Women’s World Matchplay, on the day I was in the final. She has been doing great, playing well, so I wish her all the best.”
The Grand Slam of Darts is an invitational tournament for players who have either won major titles in the sport or are ranked highly in their respective countries. The tournament allows both men and women to play; this year, aside from Van Leuven, British woman Beau Greaves also played.
Van Leuven won two rounds in the Grand Slam alongside her team before ultimately losing 5-0 to three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen, according to The Independent. Spectators reportedly booed Van Leuven as she took to the stage to compete against Gerwen. Gerwen, like Humphries, defended Van Leuven’s place in the sport to a Dutch outlet, according to the Daily Mail.
“It’s just heartbreaking. She does what she does and she can play terrific darts. Let her play nice,” Gerwen said. “For me, there’s never been a discussion, but I don’t make the rules. The PDC has people who go over them. They can never make the right choice anyway. If they go left, people say they should go right and vice versa. Everyone has an opinion about it, but there is no point at all in continuing to argue.”
Humphries, likewise, says that he doesn’t get “too involved in politics” and instead just sees Van Leuven as his opponent.
“I just look at her as a darts player,” he said, according to talkSPORT. “She is in the competition on merit, she has not broken any rules, she is doing what she is allowed to do.”
