When van Leuven, who competes in the women's class, was pitted against Lorraine Winstanley, individuals tried to disrupt the match. In the audience, a person stood up with a banner with the text "He is a man", and another with a shirt that said "Save women's sports".
According to The Telegraph, the individuals were taken care of by security personnel and removed from the premises. This was later confirmed by a spokesperson for the competition.
On the platform X, one of the activists writes that the intervention by the security personnel had been a "terrible display of brutal violence against women who did not even get the chance to say 'he is a man' before they were dragged out".
Prior to the tournament, Noa-Lynn van Leuven said: "I love this sport too much and why should I let someone else ruin my passion?"
Van Leuven won the match against Lorraine Winstanley but was eliminated from the competition in the following match.
The issue of trans people's participation in various sports competitions is highly debated. Last week, the US Olympic Committee stopped trans women from competing in women's sports. This after President Donald Trump signed the decree that stops trans people from competing in women's and girls' competitions in the US.
