ASA to appeal Semenya ruling

Athletics SA on Monday said it would lodge an appeal after Olympic champion Caster Semenya lost her case challenging new rules forcing female athletes to regulate their testosterone levels. Semenya's case has provoked a furious debate across sport worldwide about gender and 'hyperandrogenic' athletes, those with 'differences of sexual development' (DSD). A report on the IoL site notes that last week's decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, means female athletes with elevated testosterone will have to take suppressive treatment if they wish to compete as women in certain events. 'We'll file the appeal as soon as we possibly can,' Vuyo Mhaga, spokesperson for the Ministry of Sport. He added that the appeal, to be lodged at the Switzerland Federal Tribunal, would be based on complaints over the judges' past record on similar cases, lack of clarity over how the ruling could be implemented and how the evidence was handled.