A female pool player received a round of applause when she forfeited a pool tournament rather than compete against a trans woman in the finals.
Lynne Pinches opted to walk away from the finals of the English Pool Association’s 2023 Champion of Champions Ladies on Sunday rather than play versus Harriet Haynes, the NY Post reports.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. Join now and start streaming instantly >
A video of the moment shows that Pinches and Haynes vied to see who would break.
Pinches won and shook hands with Haynes, but then walked toward the tournament official and apparently declared a forfeit.
Pinches proceeded to unscrew her pool cue and pack it up as Haynes raised her hands in disbelief.
Realising what was happening, the crowd loudly cheered and applauded Pinches for walking away.
According to the English Pool Association website, Haynes has won at least eight tournaments since the start of last year.
Pinches’ brother, Barry, applauded his sister’s decision.
“Full credit and great respect to my sister Lynne Pinches yesterday for taking a stand and not playing in the biggest match of her pool playing life because she feels it’s so unfair to have to compete against a trans woman,” Barry Pinches wrote on Facebook, according to Daily Mail.
“I completely agree with her view that it is totally unfair to expect women to compete against trans women in pool or any other sport for that matter.”
The brother added that he does not have an issue with transgender identifications, but rather trans women competing in women’s sports.
“For the record, this post is about fairness in women’s sport, that is all. I have no problem whatsoever if somebody wants to identify themselves as whatever they want to be and I have nothing against Harriet Haynes,” he wrote.
This was at least the second instance in recent weeks of a woman refusing to compete against a trans counterpart in sports.
Last week, in response to a news story about women dropping out of a martial arts tournament, tennis legend Martina Navratilova tweeted, “This is what is happening. Women are self excluding from competitions they trained for. Tell me how this is fair again?!!”
This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
