Darts star FORFEITS match as she refuses to face transgender participant
- Deta Hedman was due to face Noa-Lynn van Leuven at the Danish Open
- The 64-year-old decided to forfeit the game against her transgender competitor
Darts star Deta Hedman has pulled out of the Denmark Open after refusing to face transgender competitor Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
The 64-year-old has been a vocal critic of rules allowing transgender women to compete in women’s tournaments.
Hedman, is one of the most well known figures in the women’s darts scene, and in the past has called on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the World Darts Federation (WDF) to exclude transgender athletes from women’s tournaments.
At the WDF tournament in Denmark, Hedman was due to face Van Leuven in the quarter-finals, but instead decided to boycott the game.
As per German outlet BILD, Hedman said: ‘I’m not playing against a man in a women’s event.’
Deta Hedman has pulled out of the Denmark Open after refusing to face a transgender rival
She had been due to face Noa-Lynn van Leuven but instead opted to boycott the game
Hedman has previously called on transgender competitors to be banned from ranked events
American former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines offered to refund Hedman any prize money she missed out on by forfeiting her match.
Hedman though responded: ‘@Riley_Gaines_ thank you for your kind offer, but Denmark Darts paid me out in full for the event.’
She then tagged an account called SaveWomensSports writing: ‘This subject causing much angst in the sport I love . People can be whoever they want in life but I don’t think biological born men should compete in Women’s sport.’
In a separate tweet she rejected suggestions that she pulled out of the match because she felt ill.
Van Leuven has been a woman since 2014 and won two tournaments back in March, the PDC Women’s Series in Wigan and a PDC Tour event in Hildesheim, Germany a week prior.
Facing off against Ireland’s Katie Sheldon in the final van Leuven triumphed 5-2 to claim £2,000 in prize money.
Two of Van Leuven’s Dutch compatriots have left their national team in protest following her second competition triumph in March.
Anca Zijlstra revealed she was stepping away ‘with pain in my heart’ – before world number two Aileen de Graaf quit hours later in vowing to no longer represent the Netherlands.
American former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines (centre left) offered to pay Hedman any money she did not get paid for pulling out of the Denmark Open
Hedman insisted she got paid in full but that the subject caused her ‘much angst’
18-time Grand Slam tennis champion Martina Navratilova (pictured) said: ‘No male bodies in women’s sports please – not even in darts’ after Van Leuven won a competition in Wigan
Posting on social media platform X, Martina added: ‘Again – women get the short end of the stick. And it stinks’
Outraged by the win, 18-time Grand Slam tennis champion Martina Navratilova said: ‘No male bodies in women’s sports please – not even in darts.’
Posting on social media platform X, Martina added: ‘Again – women get the short end of the stick. And it stinks.’
Hedman was involved at the PDC Women’s Series in Wigan and hinted that the storm surrounding the inclusion of transgender players could lead to her quitting the sport.
She tweeted: ‘Not the best weekend at @Official PDC missed 2 darts in event 8 to get into semis. Always said I would stop playing when the enjoyment has gone from playing, think the present issues with the ladies game that time is getting closer.’
Meanwhile, back in December, Hedman called on transgender players including Van Leuven and Victoria Monaghan to be banned from ranked women’s tournaments in a lengthy Facebook statement.
She said: ‘For many months I’ve struggled with transgenders playing in the women’s world ranked events.’
She then went on to highlight how far women’s darts has come, after Hedman and others ‘fought to get better recognition for women’s darts’ back in the late 1980s.
Hedman said she ‘packed up’ in 1997 as she felt there was ‘little future for the ladies’ before returning when a women’s championship was formed.
She then adds: ‘Then came the acceptance of trans women being allowed to play in women’s sports by the WDF, PDC, county darts and independent events.
Hedman in a statement in December said she had raised her concerns with the WDF
Last month she hinted that she could quit the sport due to the ‘present issues with the ladies game’
‘I have though this is wrong since day one, I have no problems with transgenders in life, I’m not close to Noa-Lynn in darts but in fairness seems a lovely person.
‘At Lakeside I met Victoria Monaghan and she is right character we had banter and a fair few laughs, but my personal view is trans shouldn’t playing in women’s ranked events.’
Hedman said she raised her concerns with the WDF, but that the governing body was ‘worried of legal challenges’ and that ‘they needed scientific proof a trans player has an advantage over biological women.’
She also claimed to have contacted Dr Linda Duffy – a former world number one in women’s darts – and mentioned her articles ‘showing exactly why trans players have advantages over biological women, especially when they have gone through puberty as a male.’
Hedman added: ‘In my opinion those (mainly men) who say no reasons why women can’t play as well as men are talking out of their rear end.’
