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Asian Games silver medallist Santhi Soundarajan of India has failed a sex test and will be stripped of her medal, officials said yesterday.
"Santhi was subjected to a gender test in
The gender verification test, which is not mandatory but carried out if officials want it or a rival protests, was done soon after Soundarajan won the silver medal in the women's 800m on December 9.
She was withdrawn from the 1,500m and sent home once the initial report was handed over to Indian Games officials, an Athletics Federation of
"The Olympic Council of
Santhi Soundarajan came from a very poor family. This bright athlete’s parents are brick makers. They do not even own a television and they congratulated their daughter borrowing some ones mobile phone. Coming off from such a poor family, Santhi has proven her talents in sports. However, this is not the first time this problem occurred. Last year, Santhi applied for a job in Indian Railway (IR). The medical board of IR could not determine her gender and she did not get the job.
The way I see it, Santhi is not accused of taking drugs or any other medicines. She has some physical problems which she should not be accused of. So, why taking away her medal? Just because she does not fall into a neat category of male and female does not mean that she is unfit as an athlete. I think this is not only humiliating for Santhi but for
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