{"id":6493,"date":"2025-10-29T18:29:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=6493"},"modified":"2025-10-29T18:29:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:29:24","slug":"female-darts-star-pulls-out-of-tournament-again-after-being-drawn-against-trans-opponent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=6493","title":{"rendered":"Female darts star \u2018pulls out of tournament AGAIN after being drawn against trans opponent\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Female darts star \u2018pulls out of tournament AGAIN after being drawn against trans opponent\u2019<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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Female darts star Deta Hedman pulled out of a tournament last weekend after being drawn against a transgender opponent. The Englishwoman, 65, had been due to compete with Noa-Lynn van Leuven in the quarter-finals of the PDC Women\u2019s Series on Saturday.<\/p>\n

She however withdrew from the clash and thereby forfeited her place in the tournament after learning of her opponent, who was born as a male in the Netherlands. Hedman has indeed been vocal with her views about transgender darts stars competing in women-only events. Only last year she pulled out of the Denmark Open after being drawn against Van Leuven.<\/p>\n

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\u2018I\u2019m not playing against a man in a woman\u2019s body,\u2019 she told German publication Bild at the time.<\/p>\n

Van Leuven, 29, created history late last year when she became the first Dutch woman to qualify for the World Darts Championship.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Deta Hedman pulled out of a PDC tournament over the weekend after being drawn against a transgender player<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her proceeding participation in women-only competitions however sparked backlash, with the red-haired darts star taking a break from the game after a \u2018difficult few months\u2019 in which she received vile abuse and even death threats.<\/p>\n

She was later banned from competing in women\u2019s tournaments by the World Darts Federation (WDF) in July after the organisation were urged to restrict participation to players who were born female.<\/p>\n

The new rule meant that transgender women, including Van Leuven, would only be able to compete in the Open category under the WDF. The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) are however yet to follow in the organisation\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

The PDC have reiterated that transgender sportswomen are free to compete in women-only events, meaning Van Leuven has been eligible to take part in tournaments such as that of last weekend.<\/p>\n

Despite the controversy surrounding the Dutchwoman\u2019s participation in the female game, she has received the support of some of darts\u2019 biggest names.<\/p>\n

One of those is her fellow countryman Michael van Gerwen, who described the WDF\u2019s decision to ban the 29-year-old as \u2018heartbreaking\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018She does what she does and she can play terrific darts,\u2019 the three-time world champion said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Let her play nice. For me, there\u2019s never been a discussion but I don\u2019t make the rules.<\/p>\n

\u2018The 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

Responding to the WDF\u2019s decision in July, Van Leuven wrote on Instagram: \u2018This past Monday, the WDF released a new policy regarding gender eligibility.<\/p>\n

\u2018I want to take a moment to respond. This decision does affect me personally though, thankfully, not too severely at this point in time. But still, it hurts.<\/p>\n

\u2018Once again, it\u2019s a loss for the trans community in sports. And that breaks my heart.<\/p>\n

\u2018As a trans person in the darts world, I know how vital inclusion is not just on paper, but in practice. It\u2019s disheartening to see yet another policy framed around \u2018fairness\u2019 that ultimately results in exclusion, without truly considering the people behind the labels.<\/p>\n

\u2018My heart goes out to all the athletes impacted by this. We remain visible. We keep going.\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Female darts star \u2018pulls out of tournament AGAIN after being drawn against trans opponent\u2019 Female darts star Deta Hedman pulled out of a tournament last weekend after… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFemale darts star \u2018pulls out of tournament AGAIN after being drawn against trans opponent\u2019 - FRESH<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=6493\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Female darts star \u2018pulls out of tournament AGAIN after being drawn against trans opponent\u2019 - 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