Dutee Chand to compete once again; Sonowal welcomes CAS's decision

Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, has welcomed the decision of Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the apex court for sports, with regard to a case involving Indian athlete Dutee Chand.

A three-member panel of the CAS chaired by Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett (Federal Court of Australia) suspended the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) regulation governing eligibility of females with naturally-occurring hyper-androgenism.

Following the historic verdict given yesterday by the CAS, Dutee Chand is immediately and unconditionally eligible to compete after being barred from competing against women because her natural testosterone levels were too high.

Until now, the regulation has caused female athletes with naturally-elevated testosterone levels to be suspended or to be banned outright from competition unless they undergo medical intervention to lower their testosterone levels.

Dutee Chand challenged the regulations and the decision of the AFI to ban her in September 2014. She was given support from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports had assured the Parliament last year that the Ministry would provide all possible support to Dutee Chand. Following that, she was reinstated in the Centre for Excellence, Patiala and all supporting costs for her appeal and hearing in CAS was provided. Currently, she is training in Hyderabad.

"This is a great day for women sports and for Indian sports. It is a tremendous victory for India", said Sonowal.

The CAS has given the IAAF two years to present convincing scientific evidence establishing that naturally high testosterone levels provide an unfair athletic advantage to hyperandrogenic female athletes as compared to their peers. If the IAAF does not, or cannot, do so the Hyperandrogenism Regulation will be rendered null and void.

According to the information provided by Dutee Chand, Toronto-based lawyer James Bunting, Justice Morris Fish of Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg LLP, who represented Dutee Chand pro bono in CAS, her advisors including Dr. Payoshni Mitra, Professor Bruce Kidd and Dr. Katrina Karkazis in the case. Dutee Chand expressed her gratitude to Sonowal and ministry officials, SAI and all those who supported her unconditionally throughout.