A darts player from the UK forfeited her quarter-final match against a trans-identified male at the Denmark Open on Saturday.
Deta Hedman, a three-time WDF World Champion runner-up, refused to compete against Noa-Lynn Van Leuven in protest of biological males participating in women's sports, Reduxx reports.
Van Leuven consequentially progressed straight to the semi-finals without competing in the quarter-finals.
Just before the match was set to take place, Hedman had been outspoken on her Facebook about her opposition to men's inclusion in the women's category in sports.
She posted a graphic that read: “Women & girls deserve to be CHAMPIONS in their own sports."
Hedman also called Van Leuven out specifically in a statement in 2023.
She wrote: “For many months I’ve struggled with transgenders playing in the women’s world ranked events. I have thought this is wrong since day one,” she wrote. While she stressed that she had no issues with individuals identifying how they chose in day-to-day life, she emphasized that she did not believe men should be playing in female sporting categories.
“I’m not close to Noa-Lynn in darts but in fairness seems a lovely person, at Lakeside I met Victoria Monaghan and must admit she is a right character we had banter and a fair few laughs, but my personal view is trans shouldn’t be playing in women’s ranked events.”
When sports reporters and Online Darts presenter Phil Barrs tried to cover up the reasoning behind her forfeiture, claiming she had fallen ill, Hedman set the record straight, posting to X:
“No fake illness, I said I wouldn’t play a man in a ladies event. Don’t listen to @phillbarrs he knows sweet [fuck all], nor does his reliable source.”
Barrs then replied to her: "Having the debate around Trans athletes in Women’s sport is one thing. But this comment calling a trans woman a man is simply transphobic and should be addressed by the sporting authorities as there should be no place for it."
