Dutee Chand's appeal hearing against IAAF begins at CAS

Lausanne: The Court of Arbitration for Sports on Monday began hearing the appeal filed by promising Indian athlete Dutee Chand against the IAAF's hyperandrogenism policy, which bars female athletes having higher level of male hormones from competitions.

The 19-year-old Chand was disqualified from competitions last year by the Athletics Federation of India as per IAAF's hyperandrogenism policy after tests revealed that her body produced natural levels of testosterone above permissible range.

She has a condition called hyperandrogenism and her body produces natural levels of testosterone so high that they place her in the male range in the eyes of international track and field.

Her legal team will argue the ruling is discriminatory and flawed.

The landmark case against the IAAF and Athletics Federation of India started today and is expected to last up to four days.

The CAS listed the appeal on its website to be heard from March 23-26 and reports said that a final decision may take time to come.

"A final judgement could take weeks or even months," a report at the BBC Sport said. CAS hearings are not open to public.

At the CAS hearing, Dutee's counsels include some well known international experts like James Bunting and former Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court Morris Fish. Dr Payoshni Mitra, a research consultant on gender and sports issues, who has been working with Dutee, is also with Dutee here.

The Sports Ministry is bearing the cost of Dutee's legal battle at the CAS.

Dutee became Indian national under-18 champion for 100m when she clocked 11.8 seconds in 2012. She won a 200m bronze at 2013 Asian Championships in Pune and she is first Indian to reach a sprint final at the 2013 World Youth Championships, coming sixth in 11.62 seconds.

She won a gold in the 100m at the National Games in Kerala last month after she was allowed by CAS in its interim order to take part in national events pending a final decision.

Chand was forced to miss the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games last year after failing the test but refused medical treatment to help make her eligible.

IAAF's hyperandrogenism policy recommends that a woman athlete with hyperandrogenism may lower her androgen to a specified level with the help of hormone therapy or surgery and then compete as a woman.

Her appeal is the first to challenge rules the IAAF introduced in the wake of the Caster Semenya affair in 2009.