Olympic boxing: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting wins opening bout amid controversy

VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan won her opening Olympic boxing bout on Friday, beating Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan 5:0 in the women’s 57-kilogram division.

Lin and fellow women’s boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria were disqualified from the world championships held last year by the International Boxing Association for supposedly failing gender eligibility tests, and their presence at the Paris Olympics has become a divisive international issue.

Lin entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to a chorus of cheers from the French crowd. Her headgear became dislodged in the first minute during a clinch, but she won the first round on four of five scorecards.

Lin is well-known in international competitions for being taller and more slender than most of her fellow competitors at 57 kilos while using her quickness and superior reach to land significant punches. The two-time Olympian won the final two rounds 5:0 on all five cards against Turdibekova.

Lin bowed to the crowd before leaving the ring. On her walk back to the dressing room, she stopped and waved at her cheering fan section, touching her hand to her heart, and later hugged some of her supporters.

Lin advanced to face Svetlana Staneva of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals on Sunday, with the winner clinching her first Olympic medal.

Staneva is a 34-year-old amateur boxing veteran who lost a close fight to Lin in the semifinals of the 2023 world championships in India. The victory was changed to a no-contest by the IBA, which claimed Lin had failed an unspecified gender test.

The IBA, which has been banned from Olympic participation since 2019 following years of criticism from the IOC, also disqualified Khelif from last year’s world championships for what it said were elevated levels of testosterone. The IBA has declined to disclose any information about its tests, calling the information confidential.

Lin didn’t speak to the media after beating Turdibekova. Taiwan coach Tseng Tzu-chiang briefly described the victory, saying Lin overcame nerves caused by pressure in the first round.

“This is how the sport is,” Tseng said. “We respect the ruling, and all the rules.”

Turdibekova cried as she walked to the dressing room, not stopping to speak to reporters.

Lin is the top seed in the women’s 57-kilogram category in Paris, although Olympic seeding is frequently unindicative of a boxer’s medal chances. She won world championships in 2018 and 2022, but the IBA abruptly disqualified her during last year’s competition before the final.

Tsai Ing-wen, the former president of Taiwan, posted her support of Lin on social media after Lin’s first win in Paris.

“When I met boxer Lin Yu-ting, I saw an athlete who is fearless in the face of challenges, whether they come from inside or outside the ring,” Tsai wrote. “Today, when she represents Taiwan on the Olympic stage, we will be behind her & all the Taiwanese Olympians making us proud.”

Both Lin’s and Khelif’s passports say they are female, and they have no eligibility issues with the International Olympic Committee, which runs the Olympic boxing tournament in the permanent absence of the banished IBA. Khelif also is a two-time Olympian.

Lin has competed in elite-level amateur boxing for 10 years, and Khelif is a six-year veteran. Neither had been sanctioned before last year’s worlds.

The IOC repeatedly has condemned the growing criticism of Lin and Khelif, who won her own first bout Thursday when opponent Angela Carini of Italy quit after 46 seconds, citing pain in her nose following a few exchanges of punches.

Carini later told Gazzetta dello Sport that she wished to apologize to Khelif for the way she handled the ending of their bout. Carini also said she didn’t mean to avoid shaking Khelif’s hand.

In a lengthy statement issued Thursday, the IOC said its eligibility rules have been in place throughout the Olympic qualifying process, and it pointed out that Lin and Khelif competed for many years in IBA-sanctioned events. The IOC called their disqualifications last year “a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.”

“The current aggression against these 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. Such an approach is contrary to good governance. Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence.”

The IBA has been out of the Olympic movement since 2019 after years of concerns with its governance, financial transparency and administration of competitions.

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