The governing body of world athletics has hailed the Swiss court decision that ruled Caster Semenya out of their world championships as a victory for 'parity and clarity'.
Olympic 800 metres champion Semenya is fighting an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) regulation that middle distance female runners with a high natural level of testosterone must take medication to reduce it.
On Tuesday, the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) reversed a ruling that temporarily lifted the IAAF’s testosterone regulations imposed on her, effectively ruling her out of the Sept. 28-Oct. 6 world championships in Doha.
"This decision creates much needed parity and clarity for all athletes as they prepare for the world championships in Doha this September," the IAAF said in a statement.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled the IAAF's regulations were necessary for athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) to ensure fair competition.
CAS is based in Lausanne and comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland's highest court.
Semenya, who is appealing the CAS ruling at the SFT, has said she does not wish to take medication to change who she is and how she was born, and wants to compete naturally.
The IAAF said during the remainder of the SFT hearing it would "maintain its position that there are some contexts, sport being one of them, where biology has to trump gender identity".
"The IAAF believes ... that the DSD Regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair and meaningful competition in elite female athletics."
Semenya ran the quickest ever 800 metres on United States soil at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on June 30 in a time of 1:55.70.
Four Indian women boxers enter semis of Russian tourney
Asian gold-medallist Pooja Rani (75kg) and world bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), along with two others Indians, entered the semi-finals of the Magomed Salam Umakhanov Memorial International Boxing Tournament in Kaspiysk, Russia.
India Open gold medallist Neeraj (57kg) and former world youth bronze-medallist Jony (60kg) were the other two to make the semi-finals on Wednesday night.
A bronze-medallist from the Strandja Memorial Cup earlier this year, Lovlina defeated Russia's Anastasiya Sigaeva 5-0 to be assured of a medal. She will next take on Belarus' Alina Veber for a place in the final.
Pooja rebounded from a shock loss at the India Open in May with a 4-1 victory over Russia's Laura Mamedkulova.
Neeraj also secured a 4-1 win over Russian Sayana Sagataeva.
Jony clinched a 5-0 win over Belarus' Anastasiya Obushenkova.
Former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra (51kg) was the only one among the Indian women to bow out in the quarterfinal stage. The 2018 India Open champion suffered a 0-5 loss to Belarus' Yuliya Apanasovich.
Among the men, Ashish Insha (52kg) beat Azerbaijan's Salman Alizade 4-1 to enter the quarter-finals.
He joined 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Gaurav Solanki (56kg), GeeBee Boxing silver-medallist Govind Sahani (49kg) and 2018 India Open gold medallist Sanjeet (91kg) in the last-eight stage.
Six Indian men and five women were in fray at the 21st edition of this tournament that features over 200 boxers from 21 countries.
Prajnesh makes second round exit from Los Kabos event
Squandering break opportunities cost Prajnesh Gunneswaran dear as the Indian made a second-round exit from the ATP Los Kabos event following defeat against world number 28 Taylor Fritz, in Mexico.
The left-handed Indian, ranked 90, could convert just one of the six break chances to eventually suffer a 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 defeat against the American.
The 20-points earned will help Prajnesh gain two places on the raking ladder. He also pocketed $ 12,825 as prize money.
Meanwhile, Divij Sharan and Jonathan Erlich knocked out fourth seeded pair of Ben McLachlan and John-Patrick Smith 7-5, 6-1 to progress to the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament.
At the ATP 500 Citi Open in Washington, both Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna lost their matches with their respective partners.
The wild card pair of Paes and Jack Sock lost 5-7, 2-6 to Australian team of Alex de Minaur and John Peers.
Before that Bopanna and his partner Benoit Paire fell in the second round of the four-team Qualifiers. They lost 6-2, 3-6, 7-10 to Matthew Ebden and Nicholas Monroe.
Top seeds reign as Svitolina and Sabalenka advance in San Jose
Top-seeded Elina Svitolina crushed Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-1 and second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka put an end to CoCo Vandeweghe's comeback bid with a 6-3, 6-3 win in second-round action at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose on Wednesday.
Svitolina's superior serving was the difference in the one-sided match as the Ukrainian set up a tantalizing quarter-final meeting with Greece's Maria Sakkari on Thursday.
Sakkari fired nine aces en route to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over promising young Japanese player Mayo Hibi and will be looking for revenge when she faces Svitolina, who defeated her in three sets at Wimbledon earlier this month.
In the night session veteran Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro battled back to defeat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to punch her ticket to the quarter-finals of the WTA Premier tournament in Northern California.
