Dutch women's darts veterans quit over transgender team-mate
The Hague (AFP) – Dutch darts authorities Monday confirmed the resignation of two veteran women players after they refused to compete with a transgender woman in the country's national team.
Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf on Saturday said they were quitting because they no longer wanted to represent the Netherlands alongside Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
Zijlstra and De Graaf have "informed the Dutch Darts Association (NDB) they no longer wanted to be considered for national selection," the NDB said in a statement.
The NDB defended Van Leuven, the current women's world number six, saying it was "known to us that she has completed her transition from a man to a woman and that her gender identity is female.
"She meets all the requirements and therefore, according to a directive on gender and sex-diverse persons, is eligible to play in the women's category," the NDB said.
Zijlstra, currently ranked 12th by the World Darts Federation, in a Facebook post Saturday said the decision to quit was "with pain in my heart."
