FEMALE darts player Deta Headman has withdrawn from the PDC Women’s Series after being pitted against transgender star Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
The 65-year-old was set to play against Van Leuven in the quarter-finals of the tournament on Saturday.
But the veteran star now won’t feature and has instead forfeited her place in the competition.
It is the second time she has pulled out of a tournament after being drawn against Van Leuven, having previously done so in last year’s Denmark Open.
At the time, she told Bild: “I’m not playing against a man in a woman’s body.”
Van Leuven, 29, who was born as a male in the Netherlands, became the first Dutchman woman to qualify for the World Darts Championship last year.
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Earlier this summer the WDF decided to ban transgender players from their events.
But they are still permitted to compete in PDC competitions and there has been no indication their position will change.
Van Leuven has received praise from darts star Michael van Gerwen who called criticism against her “heartbreaking”.
He said: “It’s just heartbreaking. 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.”
Van Leuven took a break from darts earlier this year due to “mental health” reasons, claiming she received death threats and abusive messages.
She later broke her silence over her ban from WDF events this summer, admitting the decision “hurts”.
She wrote 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.
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“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.”
