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Johannesburg - World 800m champion Caster Semenya will compete in South Africa's domestic athletics season as she waits to hear her fate from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced on Wednesday that track and field sponsors Yellow Pages had come back on board, and Semenya's coach, Michael Seme, confirmed she would embark on her 2010 season at the end of the month.
ASA was set to confirm the schedule for the Yellow Pages Series on Wednesday afternoon, and Seme said she would take part in the first event of the series, regardless of the date or venue of the opening meeting which is expected to be held at the end of January.
"She will run in at least three Yellow Pages races this year," Seme said on Wednesday.
"We don't have the fixtures yet, but we are sure she will run in the first meeting."
She won't, however, compete in more than one 800m race before the national championships, Seme added, with the 19-year-old focusing on speed work ahead of a busy season.
"She will only run one 800m race," Seme said. "She will concentrate on the 400m and if there are no 400m races at certain meetings she will run the 1 500m."
Seme also said Semenya would compete on the European circuit this season after gender tests, followed by an international media probe, had prevented her from competing after winning the world title in a national record 1:55.45 in Berlin last August.
"Last year there were obviously problems and she was not able to compete in those big events," Seme said.
"She received many invites after winning the world title, and even before that, but because of what happened she chose not to take part. But this year is different and she is planning to compete in some of those events."
Seme denied media reports on Wednesday that Semenya was aiming at three international titles this season.
With the closing ceremony of the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, and the opening ceremony of the African Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, just three days apart, Seme said she would not compete in both.
"She will choose one of those events, but she hasn't decided which one," he said.
She also has her sights set on the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India in October.
Semenya made international headlines last year after the IAAF conducted gender tests on her a few days before her first round heat at the World Championships.
It was later revealed that ASA had also tested her after she won the African junior title earlier in the year.
Australian media reported that the IAAF results showed she was a hermaphrodite, but the international governing body for the sport would not confirm or deny the reports.
The IAAF, however, has still not made a decision on whether or not Semenya can compete against women, and at the moment she is geared towards a full season of competition.
A member of the IAAF medical commission, who asked not to be named, told Sapa that the commission would meet next week, but Semenya's case was unlikely to be on the agenda.
With suspended ASA president Leonard Chuene and his board set to face disciplinary hearings later this month after their bungling of the Semenya affair and reported financial mismanagement, the South African government is to meet with the IAAF to discuss the issue.
"The medical commission meets next week, but I don't think we'll even talk about Caster Semenya," the medical official said.
"We're still waiting for South Africa to meet with the IAAF, but I'm sure the minister (SA sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile) will handle that.
"With all the politics involved in ASA we were unable to resolve the Caster Semenya matter, but now that things have settled down, it should be sorted out soon."
Yellow Pages were reluctant to sign a new deal after their contract with ASA ended last season, but the ASA interim board confirmed on Wednesday that the sponsor had signed a new contract and the track and field season would go ahead as normal.
