The Darts Regulation Authority has banned transgender women from competing in its women’s events with speedy impact.
The DRA, which governs the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), mentioned “only biological females should be eligible to compete in women’s tournaments regulated by DRA Rules”.
It comes after the DRA accomplished a evaluation of its Trans and Gender Diverse Policy, which started in 2025.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who in 2024 grew to become the primary transgender lady to compete within the PDC World Championship, mentioned the choice had “effectively retired her”.
She stays eligible to play in open tournaments for males and women.
“I just got an email and apparently I just got retired, not by choice but because I am no longer allowed to compete,” Van Leuven mentioned in a video posted on Instagram.
“The DRA just decided that trans women are no longer allowed in women’s events which basically means I am out.
“Everyday it’s getting tougher for trans folks to exist, to compete. If you suppose this stops with me, it does not. We simply wish to be.”
Sex-based rights charity Sex Matters mentioned “males’s bodily benefits in darts could also be small however all of them add up”.
“Darts is a male-dominated world, performed in pubs and golf equipment, and the highest darts gamers are all males. That’s why women want their very own tournaments.
“The Darts Regulation Authority followed the lead of the old, unfair IOC [International Olympic Committee] policy, so it’s great to see this rapid return to fairness for women players.”
The DRA mentioned it “seeks to be inclusive” and it inspired “all players – irrespective of their biological sex, legal sex, and/or gender identity” to proceed competing in open tournaments.
It mentioned its resolution was primarily based on authorized recommendation and it thought-about final yr’s UK Supreme Court ruling that the authorized definition of a girl relies on organic intercourse.
The DRA additionally commissioned a report by Dr Emma Hilton – an educational developmental biologist who has printed a number of papers on intercourse and classes in sport.
Dr Hilton is on the board of trustees for Sex Matters.
Her report concluded “that multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts”.
Last yr, the World Darts Federation (WDF) banned transgender women from competing in its women’s tournaments.
Last month, the president of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, announced a blanket ban on transgender women, in addition to athletes with variations in intercourse improvement (DSD), from Olympic women’s sport, to take impact on the Games from 2028.
