"Nandini Agasara was cleared by World Athletics" – AFI quashes rumors around gene test

Reigning Asian heptathlon champion Nandini Agasara will miss next month’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo due to an elbow injury.

While there were speculations that she was skipping the event to avoid a gender test, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla dismissed all rumours and clarified that Nandini is indeed recovering from an injury.

"Nandini had injured her arm which is still not okay," he said. "First of all, let me make one thing very clear to you.

"There was a protest made by a fellow athlete at the last championships, Asian Games. Nandini was cleared by World Athletics," Sumariwalla further added while addressing the media on Sunday.

Nandini had won gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi in May this year where she injured herself.

Sumariwalla further explained that gene testing for all qualified athletes has recently been completed, and the results will be handled directly by World Athletics.

"The gene test has just been done for all athletes who have qualified and the results will go directly to World Athletics and World Athletics takes it from there. We do not have any such result," he explained.

According to World Athletics, starting September 1, 2025, all female athletes wanting to compete in world-ranking events, including the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, must undergo a one-time SRY gene test to confirm the absence of the Y chromosome.

Given the sensitivity of the matter, Sumariwalla urged to tread the topic with caution.

"This is a very sensitive issue and this cannot be discussed in public. As you know, there are privacy laws of World Athletics. Again, it is a sensitive issue. And I would be very careful to discuss this at a public level,” he concluded.

Nandini won a bronze medal in the women’s heptathlon at the Hangzhou Asian Games, setting personal bests in the 200m and javelin, and winning the 800m with a PB of 2:15.33. She is only the third Indian woman to win heptathlon gold at the Asian Championships.

Fellow Indian athlete Swapna Barman had then accused Nandini of being a transgender, before issuing an apology.