A Nigerian hermaphrodite soccer player is struggling to save her career, 10 years after failing a gender verification test. Ekaete Boniface and her sister were dropped from Nigeria's female team, but she says the results were wrong. The athlete hopes to reverse the decision as CGTN's Kelechi Emekalam now reports.

 

These days, she is seen vending match tickets outside Uyo stadium in south east Nigeria. But Boniface Ekaete was one of the most prolific player in Nigeria's under 20 women's soccer team. But it didn't last long- She was dropped from the team together with her sister after failing a gender verification test in 2007. By then they were preparing to represent Nigeria at the Fifa under 20 women's world cup in Chile. Ekaete and her sister are both Hermaphrodites but they were told they both had predominant male hormones-which gave them undue advantage over other players.

 

EKAETE BONIFACE HERMAPHRODITE FOOTBALLER "The players were complaining that the strength I have, they don't understand if truly I'm a girl or a boy. That I'm playing extraordinarily from other girls because when I got into the pitch again, I played better than when I was in first half. So I was the person who even scored for the team"

 

KELECHI EMEKALAM ABUJA, NIGERIA "Fifa categorizes soccer contests according to sex and age- It says- disproportionate androgenic hormones could enhance performance of players and that is why it requires teams must meet the requirements of gender categorization but the test is not free of controversies in some cases it has been blamed for inflicting permanent psychological damage and humiliating female athletes"

 

EKAETE BONIFACE HERMAPHRODITE FOOTBALLER "I feel bad because I see it as if front I'm not going, back I'm not going. I'm just in between because after football there's a life again to live. So if I'm to back out of football, then what about the other side of my life? So I feel so so bad and rejected."

 

After she was dropped from the national team, Ekaete has undergone several tests to prove her exclusion was erroneous. She is due for another test but she says she may not be able to afford it. Kelechi Emekalam, CGTN, Abujia, Nigeria.