[Music] welcome to the bridge live I am akilesh Kumar um so here we are to discuss Paris games is again marred with rage and controversy on inclusion of athletes the Italian para athlete created history by becoming the first transgender women uh athlete to participate in the par par Olympic Games whose 51-year-old Valentina Petrillo who participated in the women's 400 meter T12 category at the Paris par Olympics has been at the center of attention regarding her participation at the games uh so basically her involvement as a transgender athlete at the par Paralympics gned a lot of reactions on social media similar to that with the boxer Iman khif at the Olympics uh while Valentina has been grateful to the opportunity of becoming the first transgender woman to compete at the Paralympics and feels her participation is an important symbol of inclusion people on social media and several federations including the it Italian Athletics Federation and the Ministries for equal opportunities and sports have challenged her inclusion arguing that fairness for the other athletes should not be compromised for inclusivity but what do the rules say the international paralympic committee IPC gives the freedom to the governing bodies of each sport to draft their own set of rules and policies and according to the rule 4.5 of the world paratic para Athletics Association any person who is legally recognized as a woman is eligible to compete in their respective category of impairment on the other hand World Athletics have banned transgender women uh from competing in women's at events at the international stage competitions uh but the president of the international par Olympic Committee uh has however mentioned to the BBC sport in an interview that while petreo would be welcome in Paris under C under current par World para atletic policies he also wants to see the sporting World Unite on its transgender policies and not have uh conflicting uh rules and drafts Being Framed uh upon these policies uh let's talk a little bit more about petreo uh born as a man petreo said in a previous interview to BBC that she had known she was a woman from as young as nine inspired by 1980 Olympic champ Petro Mania Peto dreamt of becoming a sprinter she was diagnosed with star guard disease at the age of 14 which is a genetical eye disease that causes a loss of vision uh progressively and blinds the human being and uh she transmitted in 2019 uh she transitioned in 2019 but uh she was she started competing in Paris Sports from the age of 41 and has won 11 national titles in the men's T12 category uh but in 2023 she participated in the world para athletic championship and won bronze in the 400 meter as well as 200 meter races in the T12 category uh at the age of 50 the Italian national record holder in the t13 category took part in the women's T12 category 400 meters at the Paris par Olympics and qualified for the semi-final but she failed to qualify for the final despite setting a personal best of 57.5 seconds in the semi-final uh the court of public opinion is still divided on the on its verdict on Valentina petreo but what do you think about this controversy is it fair for her to compete in women's events or not let us know in the comments below and keep following our Paralympics coverage across our socials as well as our website the bridge.in also do support our content the support link is there in the description it will help us bring you more unheard stories from the farthest cor corners of the country that's it for now goodbye by [Laughter]