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Veteran Darts Player Withdraws After Facing Transgender Opponent

Veteran darts player Deta Hedman has withdrawn from the PDC Women’s Series after being drawn to face transgender player Noa-Lynn van Leuven in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

The 65-year-old opted to forfeit her place in the tournament rather than compete against Van Leuven, marking the second time she has made such a decision.

Hedman previously pulled out of the Denmark Open last year after being paired with Van Leuven, saying at the time, “I’m not playing against a man in a woman’s body.”

Van Leuven, 29, who was born male in the Netherlands, made history last year as the first Dutch woman to qualify for the World Darts Championship. Despite ongoing debate surrounding transgender inclusion in sports, she remains eligible to compete in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. The World Darts Federation (WDF), however, banned transgender players from its competitions earlier this year.

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Darts star Michael van Gerwen defended Van Leuven, calling the criticism “heartbreaking.” He said, “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.”

Earlier this year, Van Leuven took a break from the sport due to mental health struggles after receiving death threats and online abuse. Reacting to the WDF ban on transgender players, she said on Instagram, “This decision does affect me personally, though, thankfully, not too severely at this point in time. But still, it hurts. Once again, it’s a loss for the trans community in sports. And that breaks my heart. As a trans person in the darts world, I know how vital inclusion is — not just on paper, but in practice. It’s disheartening to see yet another policy framed around ‘fairness’ that ultimately results in exclusion, without truly considering the people behind the labels. My heart goes out to all the athletes impacted by this. We remain visible. We keep going.”