sport news How British darts star Deta Hedman 'refuses to be a nodding dog' and is ... trends now

Deta Hedman has stated that she has been campaigning against transgender competitors in women's darts 'for the best part of two years' amid the storm that has engulfed the darts world following her forfeiture of the Denmark Open after being drawn against Noa-Lynn van Leuven. 

The 64-year-old told German newspaper Bild that she was 'not playing against a man in a woman's event' when lined up to face Van Leuven - a trans player who has been competing on the PDC and WDF circuits since 2022 - in the tournament's quarter-final. 

Supporters of Hedman were quick to offer the former WDF world No 1 compensation after she pulled out of the competition, but the Briton stressed that she had been paid in full by the Denmark Open and instead appears content to raise awareness for her cause. 

When contacted by Mail Sport, the WDF shared a statement saying that the organisation was in 'the process of reviewing the proceedings' and therefore cannot comment further.

Questioned after the controversy as to what 'advantages' could be gained by competitors who are biologically male, Hedman replied on social media site X: 'You ever suffered from menstrual, peri menopause, menopause, fibroids, endometriosis, etc? By your response, I very much doubt it.'

But in Facebook posts shared earlier this year, Hedman revealed that she has been a consistent campaigner for excluding trans women from women's sporting categories, and explained that her reasoning did not solely come down to the 'menstrual cycle'. 

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'Ever suffered from menopause? I doubt it': Female darts star who FORFEITED because she refused to face a transgender player in women's tournament explains why it's unfair for her to play against biological men

'I have been researching and discussing at board level the trans issues, these have been with professional people who have wrote papers on the subject both on strength and precision sports,' Hedman shared in late March, before detailing that she had completed additional research with the help of her husband Paul James - who also acts as her spokesperson. 

'I had Paul with help of others do research on 24 years of county performances, men's and ladies', only a fool could see from A team to B team there was a considerable difference over 2 decades between mens and ladies,' Hedman continued. 'Ladies like Lisa Ashton, Trina Gulliver, Fallon Sherrock, Beau Greaves, Lorraine Winstanley, Anastasia Dobromyslova etc played during this period.

'Recent Lakeside WC from last 16 onwards, the (averages) of each round of the event was 7-14 points higher in the men's than the ladies', look at the quality of the ladies there, yet men were well ahead every round.' 

March saw Dutch competitors Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf quit their national team in protest after Van Leuven claimed her first PDC Tour win in Wigan, but Hedman was keen to underscore that she has believed in this issue for some time, adding that claims her campaign was tied to Van Leuven's success were 'b***s***'. 

'I have been concerned about this for best part of two years,' Hedman continued. 'At recent World Cup I took six reports on the trans issue , it was discussed at the General meeting and at the Athletes meeting, and many, in fact the vast majority, thought it was wrong and shouldn't happen.

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'I'm not playing a man in a women's event': British female darts star FORFEITS a tournament as she refuses to face a transgender player - and calls for a ban after she won two women's titles

'The general concensus of many sporting orgs is that if they banned trans they might face a discrimination case.

'I ask myself why for decades IOC had testesterone as a banned substance in WADA, we had East German athletes breaking records in the 70's that still stand today, then they introduced a limit for 10mnol for trans athletes, now it is totally removed! Why? Why was it so wrong

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