JOHANNESBURG: Athletics South Africa (ASA) has issued a formal apology to women's 800m world champion Caster Semenya for its handling of her gender verification tests.

"Athletics South Africa wishes to publicly and unconditionally apologize to Caster Semenya and her family, the president of South Africa as well as to all South Africans for the handling of her gender verification processes and the subsequent aftermath," ASA said yesterday.

"ASA's board will lead a delegation to meet Caster, her family and the government for discussions on the matter," it said.