One of the boxers at the centre of a widening gender scandal at the Paris Olympics won her opening bout on Friday to reach the quarter-finals. Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting beat Sitora Turdibekova from Uzbekistan on a unanimous points decision in the women’s 57kg class. Lin, 28, is at the centre of a storm over the eligibility of women boxers, along with Imane Khelif, after the Algerian beat her Italian opponent Angela Carini in just 46 seconds on Thursday. Both Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the 2023 world championships in New Delhi run by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after failing to meet “eligibility criteria”.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is overseeing the boxing tournament in Paris, has cleared the boxers to compete in the French capital.
The IBA said in a statement the athletes “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test”.
However the “specifics” of this test “remain confidential”, the IBA said.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the Olympic body’s eligibility criteria was based on the gender indicated on the boxers’ passports, but acknowledged that it’s “not a black and white issue”.
Neither Lin nor Khelif is known to identify as transgender and both competed at the Tokyo Games in 2021 in the women’s competition.
The row has expanded outside the ring, with politicians and celebrities weighing in.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the Khelif-Carini fight was “not on an equal footing”, after the Italian fighter was left with a badly hurt nose and in tears.
US presidential candidate Donald Trump declared on his Truth Social network: “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS!”
His running mate JD Vance described Thursday’s one-sided bout as a “grown man pummelling a woman in a boxing match”, adding: “This is disgusting, and all of our leaders should condemn it.”
Harry Potter author JK Rowling said on X, formerly Twitter, that the Paris Games would be “forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini”.
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