Michael van Gerwen storms to victory over transgender darts star Noa-Lynn van Leuven in groundbreaking Grand Slam clash

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN cruised to victory over Noa-Lynn van Leuven in the Grand Slam of Darts.

The Dutchman, 35, showed his class at the oche by thrashing the PDC TV debutant 5-0 in Wolverhampton.

EPA

Michael van Gerwen cruised into the next round of the Grand Slam of Darts[/caption]

He beat Noa-Lynn Van Leuven 5-0 on her PDC TV debutRex

Van Gerwen started out strong by beating Van Leuven in the first leg.

And he never looked out of his stride going forward, as he took the second leg with a double 16.

Leg three saw Van Gerwen land a 124 checkout after Van Leuven missed the chance for a 135 checkout.

But third seed Van Gerwen then quickly round up the match, with the fifth leg seeing him hit a double eight to complete the rout.

It saw him settle on an average of 95.

Regardless, the match made history as the 28-year-old became the first trans player to play in a televised PDC tournament against men.

Van Leuven was born a male and underwent a transition in adolescene.

Nevertheless, Van Gerwen vowed it would be business as usual when their match took place, and so it proved.

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The pre-match had talk had mostly been around Van Leuven being allowed to compete on the women’s circuit.

Speaking before the match, Van Gerwen said some of the treatment she had received was “heartbreaking” and believed all the situation around her was “being blown up enormously”.

Van Gerwen said: “It’s just heartbreaking. She does what she does and she can play terrific darts. Let her play nice.

“For me, there’s never been a discussion, but I don’t make the rules. The PDC has people who go over them. They can never make the right choice anyway.

“If they go left, people say they should go right and vice versa. Everyone has an opinion about it, but there is no point at all in continuing to argue.”