African champ tests show she has male organs

PRETORIA, South Africa – Caster Semenya had heard the taunts and whispers – that she was different from other girls. Now the most intimate details of her anatomy are headline news, and there is worry about how the 18-year-old runner from a poor South African village will handle it all.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday that gender tests show the world champion athlete has both male and female characteristics, but no ovaries or uterus, and has internal testes that produce large amounts of testosterone.

The International Association of Athletics Federations, which ordered the gender tests, refused to confirm or deny the reports. In a statement, the IAAF said it was reviewing the test results and will issue a decision in November.

South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile expressed horror at the handling of the affair and insisted Caster was female.

“We think her human rights have been violated and her privacy invaded,� Stofile said, adding that Semenya should be given legal advice and counseling.

Semenya dropped out of sight Friday. The South African Press Association quoted her coach, Michael Seme, as saying she would not take part in a 4,000-meter race at the South African Cross Country Championships in Pretoria because she was “not feeling well.�

Semenya won the 800-meter race at the world championships in Berlin on Aug. 19 by 2.45 seconds in a world-record 1 minute, 55.45 seconds. Even before that, though, her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build, and deep voice had prompted speculation about her gender.

The international federation had asked South African track and field authorities to conduct the gender verification test after she posted a world-leading time of 1:56.72 at the African junior championships in July.

Semenya’s father, Jacob, expressed anger when contacted by The Associated Press on Friday, saying people who insinuate his daughter is not a woman “are sick.� AP


African champ tests show she has male organs - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

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LA Dodgers, Phillies win home openers

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers and defending champion Philadelphia started off on the right foot as the home teams prevailed in the opening day of the National League play-offs yesterday.

Matt Kemp got the Dodgers humming early with a first-inning homer en route to a 5-3 win over St. Louis and the Phillies rode pitcher Cliff Lee to a 5-1 rout of Colorado in game one of their NL division series. The Dodgers wasted no time getting to Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter and then got help from the bullpen to seal the victory.

"I was trying to be aggressive," Kemp said. "I put a pretty good swing on it and drove it to right field.

"Our bullpen is great. They got the job done."

The clubs established a Major League Baseball play-off record for a nine-inning game by stranding a combined 30 men on base.

Rafael Furcal earned three hits, including a triple, and knocked in a run for the Dodgers, who captured their second consecutive NL West title. Casey Blake finished two-for-four with a run batted in.

It took just three pitches for Los Angeles to score off Cy Young candidate Carpenter. He surrendered four runs on nine hits and walking four in five innings.

The Dodgers got a stellar performance from their pitchers. Randy Wolf gave up two runs on six hits and walked five in 3 2/3 innings. Jeff Weaver posted the final out in the fourth and looked just in solid in the fifth to record the victory.

Ronald Belisario tossed a perfect inning for Los Angeles and Kuo Hong-chih struck out pinch-hitter Troy Glaus to strand a two runners in the seventh.

George Sherrill and closer Jonathan Broxton finished it off.

Mark DeRosa went three-for-five with an RBI for the Cardinals.

St. Louis has dropped nine of their last 11 games dating back to the regular season.

Philadelphia’s Lee, making his postseason debut on the mound, scattered six hits, allowing a run only when the Rockies were down to their last out.

Philadelphia’s Raul Ibanez had two hits and drove in a pair of runs while Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth plated runners with extra-base hits off Colorado starter Ubaldo Jimenez.

Lee struck out five and baffled Colorado batters most of the day, retiring 16 in a row in one stretch. — AFP

BusinessWorld Online: LA Dodgers, Phillies win home openers

Japan wins Asia volley crown

JAPAN NEUTRALIZED Iran's power game and got a huge lift from its fringe players in scoring a come-from-behind 19-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 victory in the Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball crown at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Japanese, losing finalists two years ago in Jakarta, silenced the predominantly Iranian crowd with their resolute floor defense and attacking depth to pull off a seven-game sweep of the 18-nation tournament held for the first time in the country.

Tatsuya Fukuzawa and Kunihiro Shimizu took turns in delivering the telling blows while seldom-used Yuta Yoneyama and Takaaki Tomimatsu came up with crucial hits as Japan repeated its title feat in 1975, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995 and 2005.

Earlier, South Korea bucked a sluggish third set to dump China, 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, and secure third place.

Kang Dong-jin, stepping up for the struggling star spiker Kim Yo-han, fired 19 hits to pace the Koreans, who were stung by a five-set defeat to finalist Iran in the semifinals Monday.

The Philippines wound up 15th in the 18-team field with its only win providing little satisfaction as its foe, Sri Lanka, flew home Monday and lost by forfeit.

Before the walkover win, the Filipinos, playing in their first international campaign in two years, took six losses, three coming at the hands of Southeast Asian rivals Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

The Filipinos, who won just three sets in their six losses, also bowed to Kazakhstan and Chinese-Taipei.

Kazakhstan finished fifth with a 25-18, 22-25, 25-10, 25-17 win over reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Indonesia, while 2007 champion Australia salvaged seventh after a 25-15, 25-21, 25-14 thumping of Chinese-Taipei.

India crushed Myanmar, 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 for ninth, while Lebanon overpowered Vietnam, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22, for 11th place and Thailand took 13th spot with 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 walloping of Qatar.
Cedelf P. Tupas
Japan wins Asia volley crown - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

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Hot Al-Hussaini lifts Eagles - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Hot Al-Hussaini lifts Eagles - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
GAME SUNDAY (Araneta Coliseum)
3 p.m.—Individual awards
3:30 p.m.—Ateneo vs Univ. of East
(Game 2 of best-of-three Finals)

MANILA, Philippines - Rabeh Al-Hussaini turned in a virtuoso performance in the final two minutes and lifted the Ateneo Blue Eagles within a win of claiming their second straight UAAP men’s basketball championship.

Al-Hussaini humbled the University of the East Warriors with a series of clutch shots to power the Blue Eagles to a 78-71 triumph in Game 1 of the UAAP Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
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