"There’s been some do-gooder who came up with: well, we need to change that"– Van der Voort calls renaming WDF men's category “nonsense”

The decision to rename the men’s singles to “open singles” at the Dutch Open Darts has gone down very badly with Vincent van der Voort. The former professional darter doesn’t spare the organizers and calls the name change outright nonsense. He believes it is a forced move that nobody asked for.

On the podcast Darts Draait Door, Van der Voort reacts fiercely to the adjustment, which stems from the situation surrounding Noa-Lynn van Leuven. The World Darts Federation no longer allows her to compete in women’s tournaments, choosing the term “open category” instead of men’s category so that transgender players can still take part.

Van der Voort considers that terminological change unnecessary. “Of course that’s nonsense,” he states emphatically. According to the darter from Purmerend, the distinction has always been clear.

“I’m not going along with that nonsense. Where does it all end? You know, all that woke stuff, you shouldn’t come to me with that. If Noa-Lynn plays with the men, then she just plays with the men, period. And not open.”

He says the adjustment is forced and not driven by a broadly supported wish within the sport. “There’s been some do-gooder who came up with: well, we need to change that. I don’t believe there’s a single person in the whole world who called the NDB saying ‘you need to change this.’”

Van der Voort then reacted sharply to the idea that such signals might still have come from the grassroots. “Are there such pathetic people?” he wondered aloud. “Well, then I’d say: get a hobby.”

The former UK Open finalist did still have praise for the NDB for how the Dutch Open was organized. “When you see how tightly it’s run. They work through the singles and pairs tournaments, and it’s really to the clock. More often you’re called earlier than later.”

Van der Voort thinks he knows why the tournament runs so smoothly. “There are a lot of officials around who were already there thirty years ago. I really have to say: hats off. It’s just tightly organized.”