MICHAEL Van Gerwen vowed that he is against “bullying” after beating Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
The three-time World Champion beat the Dutch star 5-0 as the first-ever transgender star to play in a PDC major in the Grand Slam last night.
Kieran Cleeves/PDCMichael Van Gerwen has defended transgender opponent Noa-Lynn van Leuven after she was booed on her Grand Slam debut[/caption]
There were boos for Van Leuven during the clash but it calmed down as the match progressed.
Prior to the match MVG was interviewed on Sky Sports which went out to the crowd.
He said: “She had a lot of crap over the last few years. Some people have to be a bit nice to her.
“Bullying is probably one of the worst things in the world. We underestimate what that does to other people.
“But unfortunately that’s the world we live in. I don’t understand why people are bothering so much. There’s worse things in life to worry about.”
The Dutchman, 35, averaged 95 on his way to victory over 28-year-old Van Leuven, who made history by becoming the first trans star to play in a televised PDC tournament against men.
Van Gerwen added afterwards: “It was a difficult game. It was still tough. It’s always going to be a big debate.”
“You could also hear the crowd and everything. What can you do? Crowd. Her game. The situation. Mentally I was good today. You have to deal with certain circumstances and I did.
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“I’ve been in her situation multiple times. I’ve been booed. You have to block things like that out.”
The fans booed when Van Leuven was first shown on the big screens and there were more jeers during the first leg.
But in the end the crowd treated it like any other match.
On the oche, Van Leuven had no answer to Van Gerwen but was not far off the pace. She hit four 140s and a respectable 86.48 average.
Elsewhere Luke Littler thumped Keane Barry 5-0 to open his account in the competition.
While Luke Humphries, James Wade and Peter Wright were all on the receiving end of defeats.
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