Big blow for Dutee Chanda ahead of Asian Athletics Championships

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Internet Desk: Indian sprinter Dutee Chanda’s ‘gender case’ has come in the news again today just a day before the Asian Athletics Championships where Dutee will compete tomorrow. The IAAF has decided to return to the CAS with more proof in support of their Hyperandrogenism Policy.

It was done to provide the IAAF with opportunity to submit to submit more evidence as to the degree of performance advantage that hyperandrogenic female athletes have over athletes with normal testosterone levels.

After the CAS partially upheld her appeal in an interim order two years back, Chand was allowed to “continue to compete” till a final decision was given by the CAS on her appeal against IAAF’s hyperandrogenism policy.

Now that the IAAF has decided to pursue the case again, Dutee’s appeal against the world body’s hyperandrogenism policy will be in the limelight with many activists in India and abroad opposing it, terming it as a case of ‘gender bias’.

The IAAF, in a press release on Tuesday, said that the findings of a study paper funded by it on the currently suspended Hyperandrogenism Regulations has been published and it is returning to the CAS before the two-year deadline which ends of July 27.

“Funded by the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency, the study describes and characterises serum androgen levels and studies their possible influence on athletic performance in both male and female elite athletes. The study analysed 2127 mass spectrometry-measured serum androgen concentrations obtained from elite athletes participating in the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Championships,” the IAAF said in the release.

It said among other things, the study found that in certain events female athletes with high testosterone levels benefit from a 1.8% to 4.5% competitive advantage over female athletes with lower testosterone levels.

“The article ‘Serum androgen levels and their relation to performance in track and field: mass spectrometry results from 2127 observations in male and female elite athletes’ is part of the evidence that the IAAF is preparing for its return to CAS.

“The authors, Drs Stephane Bermon and Pierre-Yves Garnier, submitted the study for scientific peer review, and the article and related research has now been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine,” the world body said.