British female darts star Deta Hedman forfeits ANOTHER tournament as she refuses to face a transgender player... one week after she called for a 'fair and level playing field' in the sport

British female darts star Deta Hedman has refused to face another transgender opponent after she withdrew from a tournament.

Hedman, 64, a three-time World Championship finalist, hit the headlines in May when she forfeited a match at the Denmark Open after refusing to take to the oche to face trans player Noa-Lynn van Leuven.

She defended her controversial decision by telling German outlet Bild: 'I'm not playing against a man in a women's event'.

Hedman is evidently not budging from her stance on the matter after pulling out of yet another tournament after being drawn against a transgender opponent.

On Saturday, 'The Heart of Darts' decided to withdraw from a women's singles tournament run by the United Kingdom Darts Association.

Hedman had won her opening two matches of the tournament - against Patricia Roberts and Barbara Legge - before being matched up to face Sam Lewis and then withdrawing.

Explaining the decision in a post on social media, she said on Facebook: 'Re my forfeiting my match on Saturday, not much was discussed about my being right or wrong in my decision not to play a transgender person. But more of an attack on my literacy skills and choice of words!'

Similarly to Noa-Lynn van Leuven - who Hedman refused to play last month - Lewis is also a transgender athlete.

Lewis recently made headlines after she spoke out after being blocked from competing at the English Darts Open in Devon. 

Samantha told Devon Live, 'That was very disheartening getting that message because I've always wanted to go down there and play in that competition. 

'I finally get the chance to and then I'm told I'm not allowed, just because of my gender identity. It's broken to me. 

'I don't feel like I have an advantage over natural-birth women. It's all to do with the practice you put in.' 

The 28-year-old had intended to play in the female category but was allegedly told by organisers that she couldn't feature. 

Hedman has been a vocal critic of rules allowing transgender women to compete in women's tournaments, after pulling out of her match against van Leuven. 

Just last week, in a lengthy statement posted on Facebook, Hedman explained that she attended a presentation night in Rochester over the weekend and was asked about her stance on trans players, to which she responded: 'I have no issues with Trans but they should play in an open section IMO.

'I questioned why it is that the rule makers in IOC, WDF and DRA are predominantly men, they totally disregard the many and varied problems unique to women, menstrual, peri menopause, fibroids, Endometriosis, with symptoms varying from stomach cramps, brain fog, bleeding, headaches/migraine, hot intense flushes etc.

'All these problems are ignored, and considered that they don't affect your performance in a precision sport like darts.

'Add to that the ridiculous testosterone levels set for a trans to play in Women's darts! If they achieve a level of 9.9mnol/L they can play, the normal range of women is between 0.5-2.4mnol/L, I myself have tested at 1.2.

'To make this even more ridiculous 5 African women born with Vaginas but had varied organs including inner testicles were banned from sport as their testosterone levels were too high , they were told they had to reduce their levels not to 10mnol/L ( the level a trans can compete in sport) but to 5mnol/L , so athletes born as a woman to compete had to be half the level of a biological male who would compete in women's sports. 

'All I want is to compete in darts on a fair and level playing field. As been stated by many studies around the world you can have inclusivity in women's sport or you can have fairness in Women's sports ! YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH.

'Why don't the WDF and DRA as a compromise drop the testosterone limit to the above high end of Women and set it as 3mnol/L, they would still have the skeletal advantages of going through puberty as a Male but at least their levels would be at a similar level to some of the women.' 

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***'. 

Hedman has frequently underlined that she does not support personal attacks against van Leuven or any trans athletes.