August 07, (THEWILL) – Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan advanced to the women’s 57kg boxing final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, winning a unanimous points decision against Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman. The victory comes amid an ongoing gender controversy involving Lin and Algerian boxer, Imane Khelif.
Both Lin and Khelif were disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing gender eligibility tests but were later cleared to compete in Paris. The International Boxing Association (IBA) president, Umar Kremlev, claimed earlier this week that genetic testing showed “these are men”, sparking intense debate.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has defended Lin and Khelif, with IOC President, Thomas Bach, stating they were born and raised as women and have passports confirming their gender. Neither boxer is known to identify as transgender.
Lin, a former two-time world champion, will face Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in Saturday’s gold medal match. Khelif is set to compete in the 66kg final against China’s Yang Liu on Friday.
The gender controversy has drawn significant attention to boxing at the Paris Games, with sports officials from Taiwan threatening legal action against the IBA following Kremlev’s comments.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
