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 quarterfinals. 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 political punch-up 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.
Lin, a tall 28-year-old fighter, won with finesse rather than power, using her reach to score with jabs and sidestepping Turdibekova’s attempts to make the fight a close-quarters brawl.
After the victory she avoided talking to the media, although her coach Tseng Tsu Chiang paused briefly.
This is how the sport is. We respect the ruling and all the rules,” he said adding that Lin “was a little nervous in her first bout. Anyway, we just enjoyed the contest.
Both Khelif and Lin fought at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics without controversy or success — both lost in the round of 16. They were then 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) has cleared the boxers to compete in Paris.
The IOC is overseeing the boxing in the Games after expelling the IBA last year after a long dispute over the way the boxing federation is run.
Tunisian coach Samir Khlifi, speaking after his boxer Khouloud Hlimi lost in a later bout in Lin’s class, called the IBA decision to ban Khelif “political”. I’ve known that boxer for a long time,” he said of the Algerian. “I knew her when she was a girl and now there is a question mark.
“The International Olympic Committee did her justice and allowed her to participate. I hope she goes right to the end and wins a medal for the Arab world. After Khelif’s victory started the controversy, the IBA took an opportunity to punch back.
It 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 the issue was not “black and white”. The row has rapidly become a hot-button issue in the ‘culture wars’ debate 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 weighed in saying he would “keep men out of women’s sports” and his running mate JD Vance described Thursday’s one-sided bout as a “grown man pummelling a woman in a boxing match”.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling said on X, formerly Twitter, that the Paris Olympics would be “forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini
Source: eNCA
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