''Half the hall started clapping": Noa-Lynn van Leuven recalls being humiliated after defeat

In recent months, opposition to transgender woman, Noa-Lynn van Leuven's participation in Women's Series tournaments has been increasing among her fellow players. Among others, Anca Zijlstra, Aileen de Graaf and Deta Hedman have recently spoken out against her participation.

De Graaf and Zijlstra even decided to leave the Dutch darts team because Van Leuven was also selected for the Dutch women's team. Zijlstra announced her decision ten minutes before she had to play against Van Leuven. That caused a lot of commotion on social media.

''That moment had a huge impact on me. I really got a lot of s*** thrown at me. From puke emojis to people sending death threats,'' Van Leuven said in an interview with De Volkskrant.

A day later, Van Leuven had to play another tournament at the Women's Series. Then she was once again confronted with a remarkable situation. ''I lost my match and half the hall started clapping, which was humiliating. I felt very small. The last few weeks I really had to withdraw.''

Van Leuven also expressed frustration with some of the reactions she has received. ''Then some say I transitioned so I can win at women's,'' she said. ''But I don't begrudge anyone the hell I went through to become who I am now. I didn't do that to win some more prize money now,'' Van Leuven said.

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