Semenya not on African championship team - report

Controversial South African athlete Caster Semenya will not compete in an African championship later this month, her coach told The Sowetan newspaper yesterday.

Michael Seme said the 19-year-old 800m world champion had not been included in the team for the African Senior Track and Field Championship in Nairobi after consultations between himself and Athletics South Africa (ASA).

"She is looking at the Commonwealth Games in India in October. We have agreed with Athletics South Africa that Caster will not go to Kenya," Seme said.

"We are trying to organise a series of meets for Caster."

Semenya is set to return to competition at the Lappeenranta Games, in Finland, on Thursday.

She has not run since leaked test results claimed she was a hermaphrodite following her win at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

But she was given the green light this week to run again after a review by the IAAF of gender-verification tests.

By choosing the Finnish city of Lappeenranta, which is 30km from the Russian border and 150km east of Helsinki, those close to Semenya hope that she would be able to resume her career away from the media limelight.

Semenya sprang to prominence last year with her rapid improvement over 800m. Her winning time in Berlin of 1min 55.45sec was the fastest of 2009.