The Girls’s Tennis Affiliation (WTA) has change into the newest sporting group to implement genetic testing in a bid to determine gamers’ eligibility to compete as a feminine.
The governing physique’s earlier coverage permitted organic males to compete within the ladies’s class in the event that they maintained testosterone ranges under a sure degree.
However now a tweak to the principles – which will probably be carried out from Tuesday – states that WTA gamers should endure a intercourse screening for the SRY gene, which is discovered on the Y chromosome and is usually concerned in male intercourse improvement.
Solely as soon as they’ve handed the check – which is accomplished via a easy cheek swab, blood check or saliva pattern – will gamers be eligible to compete on the female-only WTA Tour.
A optimistic check, in the meantime, will spark additional medical evaluation earlier than a participant is cleared to play towards their feminine rivals. Gamers should additionally signal documentation acknowledging that refusal to be examined may end in disciplinary motion.Â
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova, who has been robust in her views on conserving trans athletes out of ladies’s sport, was fast to reward the WTA for making the transfer.
Barbora Krejcikova celebrates after successful the newest WTA match in Athens on Sunday
Martina Navratilova (proper, with the Princess of Wales at Wimbleon) has praised the brand new coverage
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka reacts throughout her final match, towards Naomi Osaka at Wimbledon
Writing on X, she mentioned it was a ‘step in the appropriate path’, including: ‘I performed no half on this explicit coverage, however am very blissful that we on the WTA are clear that we’re a ladies’s affiliation and solely ladies, as in females, can compete on the highest degree of ladies’s tennis.’
Within the coverage itself, the WTA states: ‘The WTA’s ladies’s eligibility coverage is designed to advertise equal athletic alternatives in ladies’s skilled tennis and preserve truthful competitors for all gamers taking part in WTA tournaments.
‘The WTA recognises that this can be a delicate and sophisticated challenge and is dedicated to treating all gamers with dignity and implementing the coverage in a respectful and considerate manner.’Â
Different organizations, resembling World Boxing and World Athletics, have already carried out related testing for its athletes searching for to compete within the ladies’s class.
The IOC has additionally confirmed it is going to intercourse check athletes forward of the following Olympic Video games, which will probably be held in Los Angeles in 2028.Â
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