The IAAF will "finalize by June a set of criteria on the use of artificial limbs by athletes who want to compete at the able-bodied Olympics." The ruling body of athletics said that "it was creating a working group" to review Rule 144.3 (d) which says athletes using a mechanical aid "cannot compete at major events unless they can prove the use of an aid will not provide them with an unfair competitive advantage." The group's formation was triggered by 2014 German long jump champion Markus Rehm, who is "attempting to become the second athlete with a prosthesis, after South African Oscar Pistorius in 2012, to compete at the Olympics." Rehm, who is known as "Blade Jumper" due to his carbon-fiber prosthesis and also competes in able-bodied events, "must prove he does not have an unfair advantage if he wants to feature at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August." He has complained about the "IAAF's delay in issuing a set of criteria and will not have much time to plead his case" (REUTERS, 4/9).
A Public Interest Litigation, seeking the shifting of Indian Premier League matches out of Bengaluru due to "severe drought," was filed in the Karnataka High Court on Monday. The High Court had on April 7 asked the petitioner to "file a fresh plea on his petition seeking shifting of IPL matches out of the state." The move comes in the wake of the Bombay High Court pulling up the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Mumbai Cricket Association over "wastage" of water when the state is "reeling under a severe drought on a plea against holding the IPL" (PTI, 4/11).
