In a big relief for Dutee Chand, the Court of Arbitration for Sports today allowed the Indian sprinter to resume her career as it partially upheld her appeal against the IAAF Regulation on Hyperandrogenism which had barred her from taking part in women's competitions.
The CAS ruling said that there was no clear evidence that she might have benefited from her condition of having enhanced testosterone levels than others.
In an Interim Award in the arbitration procedure between Chand, Athletics Federation of India and International Association of Athletics Federations, the CAS suspended the Hyperandrogenism Regulations of the world athletics body for two years while granting permission to her to compete in both national and international events.
"The panel has suspended the 'IAAF Regulation Governing Eligibility of Females with Hyperandrogenism to Compete in Women's Competition' for a maximum period of two years in order to give the IAAF the opportunity to provide the CAS with scientific evidence about the quantitative relationship between enhanced testosterone levels and improved athletic performance in hyperandrogenic athletes," the CAS said in a statement.
"In the absence of such evidence, the CAS Panel was unable to conclude that hyperandrogenic female athletes may benefit from such a significant performance advantage that it is necessary to exclude them from competing in the female category," the world's top sports tribunal said.
"While the Hyperandrogenism Regulations are suspended, Ms Dutee Chand is permitted to compete in both national and international level athletics events. Should the IAAF not file any scientific evidence within the two-year period granted by the CAS Panel, the Hyperandrogenism Regulations will be declared void," it said.
