Michael van Gerwen tells Noa-Lynn van Leuven how to react after transgender darts star booed during defeat

Prior to the clash, the 35-year-old launched a staunch defence of Van Leuven.

He made it clear he didn't care one jot about his rival's personal business and insisted she should be allowed to compete.

However, on Saturday, Van Leuven was booed by sections of the crowd as she competed in the tournament in Wolverhampton.

Van Gerwen spoke about his opponent after the match.

And he made it clear that Van Leuven should ignore the crowd and that their reaction was beyond anyone's control.

“It was a difficult game. It was still tough. It’s always going to be a big debate," he said.

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“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.

“I’ve been in her situation multiple times. I’ve been booed. You have to block things like that out.”

Prior to the clash, Van Gerwen had said: "It's just heartbreaking.

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"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."

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Elsewhere in the Grand Slam of Darts, Luke Humphries was sent crashing out of the tournament.

The 29-year-old slumped to a shock 5-3 defeat to Rowby-John Rodriguez in their Group A clash.

Luke Littler thumped Keane Barry 5-0 to go through, with the 17-year-old saying afterwards: "I wanted to make a statement. I'm here to win.

"It's like the Champions League football group stage. Leading up to it I was practising well and enjoying it, but I'm really glad tonight.

"When I came on stage, all the fans were singing my walk-on and it gets me up for it and gets me ready. I'm glad I won.

"I want to top the group, everyone wants to. There's a little bonus for finishing top, so get out the group stage and then focus on the first-to-10 legs and hopefully go on and on."