Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) was eligible to compete in an international competition in the UK, the event’s organizer said yesterday, one day after Lin withdrew because it allegedly questioned her gender eligibility.
“World Boxing’s current eligibility policy does not prevent Lin Yu-ting from taking part in the World Boxing Cup,” the sporting federation said in a statement responding to comments from the Sports Administration.
“Selection decisions are made by national federations and the boxer was not entered in the event,” the statement said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
While World Boxing regards the safety of athletes as “absolutely paramount,” it also recognizes that “gender clarity is an extremely complex issue with significant welfare concerns,” it said.
For that reason, World Boxing established a working group under its Medical Committee to “examine every aspect of this area” and ensure that its policy “prioritizes the health of boxers and delivers sporting integrity,” while also “endeavoring to make the sport as inclusive as possible,” it said.
World Boxing’s comments came one day after an eligibility dispute prompted Lin to pull out of the World Boxing Cup Finals in Sheffield, England, which are being held from Wednesday through tomorrow.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) described Lin’s treatment as “regrettable,” since she was already cleared to compete in women’s boxing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the Paris Olympic Games.
The World Boxing Cup Finals would have been Lin’s first competition since winning gold in the women’s 57kg category at this year’s Paris Olympic Games, where she was the subject of a gender eligibility row fueled by the International Boxing Association, the agency said.
World Boxing did not have “a clear policy and rules like the IOC to protect athletes, nor comprehensive information or procedures to ensure confidentiality for us to submit Lin’s medical records,” the Sports Administration said.
World Boxing also rejected a proposal for Lin to undergo a medical check in Sheffield, the agency said.
To avoid further “harm” to Lin, her coach and Taiwanese sports officials made the decision to “withdraw from the event proactively,” it said.
Taiwan joined World Boxing, which was founded in April last year, through the Chinese Taipei Boxing Association in mid-August.
The Taiwanese delegation to the event in Sheffield, attended by boxers from more than 20 countries, included Lin and Tokyo Games bronze medalist Huang Hsiao-wen (黃筱雯).
Lin, a two-time International Boxing Association (IBA) world champion in 2018 and 2022, was disqualified over her gender eligibility after winning a bronze at last year’s IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in March of that year.
The IOC suspended the IBA as the sport’s recognized governing body in 2019, because of its lack of institutional reforms and transparency, instead choosing to organize the boxing events itself at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and Paris.
The IOC said a new international boxing body was needed for the sport to be included in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and urged members to sever their links with the IBA because of its questionable governance.
However, 25 members of the Asian Boxing Confederation voted down a proposal to break from the IBA during an extraordinary congress held in Bangkok on Saturday last week, a blow to the 55-member World Boxing as well as its plan to obtain IOC recognition and keep the sport in the 2028 Summer Games.
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