Caster Semenya on Friday put aside the controversy over a planned rule change in athletics regarding hyperandrogenism to win the women’s 1,500m and break her own South African record time at the Diamond League meeting in Doha.
Semenya won in a world-leading time of 3 minutes, 59.92 seconds ahead of Nelly Jepkosgei of Kenya and Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia. She set a national and Commonwealth Games record of 4 minutes, 0.71 seconds in winning the gold medal last month.
The South African has been in the spotlight after the sport’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), approved an eligibility rule to limit the advantage of female athletes who have naturally higher-than-normal levels of testosterone.
The IAAF last week confirmed the new rules, starting from Nov. 1, which effectively give Semenya a choice of taking medication to restrict her testosterone or move to longer distance events.
The double Olympic and three-time world 800m champion did not let the controversy affect her performance on a dominant evening for Africans in the middle-distance events as Kenya swept the podium in the men’s 800m.
Emmanuel Korir blasted away from his compatriots on the final strait to win in a time of 1 minute, 45.21 seconds. Elijah Manangoi finished second, with Nicholas Kipkoech in third.
There was a tight finish in the women’s 3,000m as Kenya again ruled the track. Caroline Kipkirui finished four-tenths of a second ahead of compatriot Agnes Tirop after a tense final lap in the evening heat, with Hyvin Kiyeng coming third.
Commonwealth Games 400m champion Isaac Makwala failed to reproduce his Gold Coast form as he finished third in a race won by Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas in a national record of 43.87 seconds, with Qatar’s Abdalleleh Haroun coming home second.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast won the women’s 100m in a personal best of 10.85 seconds, beating 2016 Olympic champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica in third, with Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor finishing second.
American 20-year-old Noah Lyles won the men’s 200m in a meeting record of 19.83 seconds, with world champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey finishing third.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but