Deta Hedman OBE (born 14 November 1959) is an English

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

player who plays in

World Darts Federation The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body and (along with the PDC) a tournament organiser for the game of darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-poin ...

(WDF) events. She is a two-time

World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...

and Finder Masters winner, and a three-time Dutch Open champion. She was also a three-time runner-up at the BDO World Championship, and was the runner-up at the

2016 BDO World Trophy The 2016 Sports Direct BDO World Trophy is a major darts tournament run by the British Darts Organisation, hosted between 28–30 May 2016 at Lakeside Leisure Complex, Frimley Green, Surrey. This event is organized by the British Darts Organisa ...

Biography

Hedman was born in Jamaica in 1959. Her parents emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1960s, leaving Hedman and her siblings in the care of relatives in Jamaica. She spent her childhood with her aunt in Castleton in a shack without running water or electricity, going to school from Monday to Thursday and working on the farm on Fridays. Her parents eventually settled in Witham, Essex and over time, brought their children to the UK, with Hedman joining them in January 1973. She started playing darts with her older brother after babysitting for him and then at the local pub in Witham and further afield in Essex. When she was 25, she joined a super league. She was selected for the county, and in 1987 she began playing in

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and ...

(BDO) events.

Career

Hedman reached the Women's World Masters final for the first time in 1990, losing to Rhian Speed. She beat defending champion Mandy Solomons to win the Women's World Masters in 1994. When she retired from darts in 1997 due to work commitments, she had been Women's World Number 1 since 1994. Hedman returned to darts in 2002 with the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

. She qualified for the

UK Open The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has an unseeded open dr ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, and more famously in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, when she defeated Aaron Turner and Norman Fletcher before losing to Wayne Atwood in the last 64. Her win over Turner was the first time that a female darts player had beaten a male player in a televised major. Due to work commitments, Hedman retired again in 2007 but returned to the BDO in 2009. After winning numerous open titles in 2009, she qualified for the BDO Women's World Championship for the first time in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. She defeated

Irina Armstrong Irina Armstrong () née Loginova (born 6 December 1970) is a Russian-born German professional darts player who currently plays in the World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Her biggest achievement to date was advanced to semi-finals in the 2011 B ...

2–0 in the quarter-finals, but was beaten 2–0 by eventual champion Trina Gulliver in the semi-finals. Hedman won the 2010 BDO Classic tournament beating Karen Lawman 3-2 in the final. Hedman also competed in the first PDC Women's World Darts Championship in

, but lost to Fiona Carmichael in the quarter-finals. At the 2011 BDO World Darts Championship, Hedman defeated

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

's Patricia De Peuter 2–1 in the quarter-finals before being whitewashed 2–0 by Rhian Edwards in the semi-finals. Deta Hedman1 - Czech Open Darts 2021

Hedman's best run at the BDO World Darts Championship came in 2012, where she beat Rhian Edwards and Lorraine Farlam to reach the final. In the final, she led

Anastasia Dobromyslova Anastasia Petrovna Dobromyslova-Martin (; born 26 September 1984) is a professional darts player. She is a three-time Women's World Professional Darts Champion of the British Darts Organisation (BDO). After winning her first title in 2008, Dobr ...

by a set and threw for the championship, but was broken and ultimately lost 2–1. This was equalled by her 2016 run where she lost in the final to Trina Gulliver. Despite being ranked No.1 for the 2013

BDO World Darts Championship The BDO World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and held annually from 1978 to 2020. The championship was first held at the Heart of the Midlands Nightclub in the Englis ...

Hedman was knocked out in the first round 0–2 by

Lisa Ashton Lisa Ashton (born 27 August 1970) is an English professional darts player who competes in World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "The Lancashire Rose", Ashton formerly competed in British Darts O ...

. The following season, Hedman won 14 titles and once again reached the world final, but lost once again this time from 2–0 in sets and 2–1 in legs having yet again thrown for the title. Hedman eventually lost the final 3–2 to Lisa Ashton despite having a checkout percentage over 75%. Hedman reached the final of the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship but was beaten by Trina Gulliver who won her 10th title. She competed at 2020 PDC Q-School but failed to gain a PDC Tour Card. In October 2020, the PDC held the inaugural Women's Series, a set of 4 events with 2 qualifying spots for the

2021 PDC World Darts Championship The 2021 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 William Hill World Darts Championship) was the 28th PDC World Darts Championship, World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it split i ...

. She tied with Fallon Sherrock on the Order of Merit, however Hedman won beating Sherrock 85–83 on legs won, meaning Hedman would make her debut in the

. She lost 3–1 to

Andy Boulton Andrew Boulton (born 25 February 1973) is a Scottish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "X-Factor", he has won four titles on the PDC Challenge Tour. Career BDO, UK Open appearances ...

in the first round.

Awards

Hedman was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. In June 2025, Hedman was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2025 Birthday Honours The 2025 King's Birthday and Operational Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Charles III, King Charles III to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good ...

for services to darts and charity.

Personal life

Hedman's brother Rudi was a professional footballer who played for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

and Crystal Palace. Her other brother, Al, was a professional darts player and former 1995 BDO British Open Champion. Her nephew Graham is a 400-metre runner.

Controversies

In December 2023, Hedman posted a post on Facebook about her frustrations with allowing

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

players to play in women's ranking events and labelled it as unfair. During the WDF Denmark Women's Open in May 2024, she withdrew in the quarter-finals against Noa-Lynn van Lueven. Many fans speculated that she withdrew from the tournament as a sign of

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

, saying transgender players should not be allowed to play. According to Phill Barrs, Hedman told event organisers she was feeling ill and was in pain before withdrawing, allowing her to pick up her ranking points. As reported by the New York Post, Hedman pushed back on reports she pulled out of the match due to an illness and also declined compensation she may have lost due to her decision. “No fake illness I said I wouldn’t play a man in a ladies event,” Hedman wrote on X.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2010 (women's): Quarter-finals (lost to Fiona Carmichael 2–4) * 2021: First round (lost to

1–3)

BDO

* 2010: Semi-finals (lost to Trina Gulliver 0–2) * 2011: Semi-finals (lost to Rhian Edwards 0–2) * 2012: Runner-up (lost to

1–3) * 2013: Quarter-finals (lost to

0–2) * 2014: Runner-up (lost to

2–3) * 2015: First round (lost to

1–2) * 2016: Runner-up (lost to Trina Gulliver 2–3) * 2017: First round (lost to Casey Gallagher 1–2) * 2018: Semi-finals (lost to

0–2) * 2019: First round (lost to

Maria O'Brien Maria O'Brien (born 14 May 1970) is an English darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Career O'Brien reached the Semi-Final of the World Masters in 2016. In 2017, she reached the Last 16 of the BDO World Trophy The ...

0–2) * 2020: First round (lost to Laura Turner 0–2)

WDF

* 2022: Second round (lost to Tori Kewish 0-2) * 2023: Quarter-finals (lost to

Rhian O'Sullivan Rhian O'Sullivan (née Edwards; 20 January 1981) is a Welsh professional darts player who competes in both Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. She won her first WDF ranking major title at the 2025 Dutc ...

0–2) * 2024: Semi-finals (lost to Beau Greaves 0–3)

WSDT

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: First Round (lost to Peter Manley 1–3) *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: First Round (lost to

Martin Adams Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...

2–3)

References

External links

Official site

Profile and stats on Darts Database
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hedman, Deta English darts players Jamaican darts players 1959 births Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Witham Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica English people of Jamaican descent British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation associate players Professional Darts Corporation women's players Hedman family