Deta Hedman has admitted the ‘phantom double’ incident during the recent Six Nations Cup was “the lowest feeling” of her…
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Double nine incident “the lowest I’ve felt in my career” admits Deta Hedman
Deta Hedman looks on (Photo by Lawrence Lustig/PDC)
Deta Hedman has admitted the ‘phantom double’ incident during the recent Six Nations Cup was “the lowest feeling” of her career.
The incident occurred during the first day of the event in Scotland when England’s Hedman was facing Republic of Ireland’s Caroline Breen.
Hedman, requiring 36, had gone inside the 18 with her second dart, but believing the dart to be in the double, began to walk to the board. She then returned to the oche to throw at double nine, and though the attempt landed narrowly inside the single nine, the referee called ‘game shot’.
Upon acknowledging the error, the leg was later awarded to Ireland at the insistence of Hedman, leaving the final score 5-4 to England as opposed to 6-3.
The 62-year-old, twice a World Masters winner and a three-time world finalist, was branded a ‘cheat’ by some sections of social media after the clip emerged, but Hedman took to Facebook on Monday to clarify the situation.
She posted: ‘Sadly wasn’t to be and we lost in the final to a very good Republic of Ireland team. Caroline, Katie and Robyn were superb.
‘Friday night was the lowest I’ve felt in my darting career. I saw a video of my match against Caroline and realised my dart wasn’t in the double.
‘I saw comments about I looked at the dart and knew it wasn’t in D9 and cheated, on the previous throw I thought D18 was in and when D9 was called “game” I was laughing to myself for my walkies on previous throw and just took my darts out of the board.
‘Many tears were shed on Friday night and all day Saturday.
‘I would like to thank all those at the venue for support they gave me on Saturday and a special thank you to Caroline Breen who was fantastic to me as were the other players competing in 6 Nations.
‘To those on social media who branded me a cheat, you really don’t know me, to the hundreds of people who sent me messages of support, thank you very much – it means a lot to me .
‘My roomie Lorraine Winstanley and England teammates and officials helped me through this incident, thank you all.’
England and Republic of Ireland women’s teams met again in the final, with Breen, Katie Sheldon and Robyn Byrne eventually defeating Hedman, Beau Greaves and Lorraine Winstanley to claim the title.
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