Irish cricketers "may be prevented from playing county cricket in England after Ireland’s long-awaited promotion to Test status." The England & Wales Cricket Board will count Irish internationals as "overseas" players in English domestic cricket from Sept. '19. Many of the leading Ireland players hold dual British and Irish nationality, "but even those with British passports do not have an automatic right to play in England’s County Championship unless they also qualify to represent the England team" (LONDON TIMES, 7/5).
Gender tests for female athletes with high levels of testosterone could be reinstated after a new study found it gave them a "competitive advantage." The IAAF commissioned the research because it wants to "prove it was right to test women with hyperandrogenism." It wants to reinstate rules limiting how much testosterone female athletes can have in their bodies (BBC, 7/4).
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association will not incur sanctions from Sport Ireland "following progress made on the issue of governance, which has been a source of concern over the last 12 months." Following an agreement to implement a modern rule book, which has been passed by the IABA board, SI is "satisfied that deadlines have been met in that regard" (IRISH TIMES, 7/5).
Hungarian Olympic swimmer Katinka Hosszu announced Tuesday the launch of a union to represent swimmers against the Int'l Swimming Federation (FINA), which "she accuses of ignoring athletes." The membership of the Global Association of Professional Swimmers represents "all continents of the globe," Hosszu wrote in a Facebook post. Among 14 Olympic champions in the list of 29 founding members are Japan's Hagino Koszuke, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom and American swimmers Katie Meili and Conor Dwyer (TIMES OF INDIA, 7/4).
