Transgender players no longer allowed to compete in women’s darts tournaments

[p]The Darts ‌Regulation Authority (DRA) said its new eligibility policy ‌followed a review by Dr Emma Hilton, an academic ‌developmental biologist who has published several papers on ‌sex and sporting categories.[/p][p][b]"As a result of its review, the DRA is satisfied that to achieve fair competition ‌in darts, only biological females should ⁠be eligible to ‌compete in women’s tournaments regulated by DRA rules," [/b]the authority ​said in a statement.[/p][p][b]"The DRA seeks to be inclusive and all players - irrespective of ​their biological sex, legal sex, and/or gender identity - may compete in open tournaments and are encouraged ⁠to do so."[/b][/p][p]According ​to Hilton's report, darts is a "gender-affected sport", with "multiple, small-magnitude sex differences" accumulating to generate a male advantage over female players.[/p][p]The new regulations come weeks after ‌the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that only biological female athletes, whose gender has been determined by a one-time gene-screening test, will be eligible to compete in female category events at the Olympic Games.[/p][embed guid="6db6187b-a9a2-44c4-a6f2-0ebdcf3d0384" url="https://x.com/Tungsten_Tales/status/2042249939044991145" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-leuven-noa-lynn/OUa0SSol/"]Noa-Lynn van Leuven[/a], a Dutch transgender player who has won several women's tournaments, said the ruling would force her into retirement at 29.[/p][p][b]"The DRA ‌just decided that trans women are no longer ​allowed in women's events, which basically means ‌I'm out,"[/b] she said in an Instagram post.[/p][p][b]"This is another huge hit for the trans community, especially after recent decisions made by the IOC. Every day it's getting harder and ⁠harder for trans people ⁠just to exist, ‌to compete."[/b][/p]