Junior sous chef Noa-Lynn van Leuven hoping to cook up a storm at Ally Pally

Noa-Lynn van Leuven does not want her status as the first transgender player to compete at the World Championship to define her.

The 28-year-old Dutchwoman, who transitioned in 2021, will create history on Tuesday when she plays Kevin Doets in the first round.

Van Leuven has earned her place on the Alexandra Palace stage because of her performances on the Women’s Series.

And she wants her darts to do the talking.

“It’s going to be a big achievement for me and for my kind of people,” she told the PA news agency.

“But I guess I just want to be Noa. I just want to play darts and not always having to talk about the fact I’m also transgender.

“I’m a darts player and I’m terribly good at it. But I guess it’s a big thing and I’m also the first Dutchwoman to play on the Alexandra Palace stage.

“If I look back, like a year, I wouldn’t even think about going to Ally Pally, maybe to watch as a fan, but not to play.

“And I’m on that stage, it’s a big achievement for me. I worked my ass off for it the whole year. And I think, like, the last half year, I actually thought, ‘OK, I might actually reach Ally Pally if I continue this form’.”

Van Leuven travelled to London on Monday morning after working a double shift over the weekend in her role as a junior sous chef.

Although she is planning on entering Q school in January to earn a PDC Tour card, she does not envisage ever leaving the kitchen.

“I don’t mind working in the kitchen, and I think it’s one of my hobbies,” she said.

“I’ve got two major hobbies, one of them is darts, and one of them is cooking. So I made both of them my job.

“I’ve been working in kitchens now for like 12 years, and I’ve been out of them in between for like one-and-a-half year, and I really miss cooking.

“So I’m not sure if I will ever go full-time on the darts. Maybe if it’s getting too busy, I will say I’m just going to focus on the darts, but for now, I enjoy my time in the kitchen.

“It also is a bit of a stress relief for me. We all know Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and sometimes it can be like that in our kitchen, but I enjoy working there.”