Santhi Soundarajan stripped of her Asian Games silver
The Pudukkottai athlete won silver in the 800 m at the Doha Asian Games but lost the medal after a sex verification test.
Santhi Soundarajan, born in 1981 in Pudukkottai district to brick-kiln labourers, won around 50 medals for Tamil Nadu and 12 international medals for India. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha she won silver in the women's 800 m. She was then stripped of the medal after failing a sex verification test that disputed her eligibility for women's events. Her case became part of the international debate on sex verification testing in athletics. In January 2007 Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi gave her a cash prize, and she later took up coaching in Pudukkottai.
