A second boxer cleared to compete in the Paris Olympics after being banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in a dispute over gender eligibility has won her opening bout.
Lin Yu-ting, 28, from Taiwan, dominated opponent Sitora Turdibekova, from Uzbekistan, over three rounds at the North Paris Arena.
Although they shook hands before the 57kg category match-up, there was no handshake after the fight and Turdibekova, 22, left in tears.
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Lin’s arrival in the arena was greeted with cheers as well as some boos, according to the BBC. She is a three-time World Champion medalist with 41 wins and 14 defeats in her career. It is Turdibekova’s first Olympics.
The victory came a day after Italian fighter Angela Carini forfeited a bout with Algerian Imane Khelif, another boxer who had been ruled ineligible by the IBA. The fight lasted just 46 seconds with Carini protesting, “Non è giusto!” which is Italian for, “It’s not fair.” She has since apologized for her outburst.
The two boxers are at the center of a gender dispute between the IBA and the International Olympic Committee. The IOC has allowed both Lin and Khelif to fight in Paris, saying it defines gender by how it is recorded on their passports.
“The question you have to ask yourself is ‘are these athletes women?’,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told the BBC before Lin’s bout on Friday. “The answer is ‘yes.’ According to their eligibility, their passports, their history. A test which may have happened—a made-up test which was new—should not be given credence,” he added.
The IBA disqualified the two boxers from the Women’s Boxing World Championships last year, stripping Lin of a bronze medal, saying they had not met the eligibility requirements.
According to the BBC, the IBA defines a woman, female or girl as “an individual with chromosome XX” and men, males or boys as “an individual with chromosome XY.”
Addressing the controversy, the IBA released a statement, which read: “On 24 March 2023, IBA disqualified athletes Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif from the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships New Delhi 2023. This disqualification was a result of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA Regulations. This decision, made after a meticulous review, was extremely important and necessary to uphold the level of fairness and utmost integrity of the competition.
“Point to note, the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential. This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”
In a statement released on Friday, reported the Daily Mail, the IOC responded: “All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition's eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.
“Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process. According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO.
“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”
