Olympic gold medalist boxer at center of gender controversy advances to Asian semifinals

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ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Lin Yu-ting won her quarterfinal bout at the Asian boxing championships on Friday in her first event since World Boxing said she passed a gene test to confirm her gender.

Taiwan’s first Olympic boxing champion beat Thananya Somnuek of Thailand 5-0 in the first round in the 60-kilogram lightweight division earlier this week.

She backed that up Friday with another 5-0 win over Ayaka Taguchi of Japan, the top-seeded woman in the division. Lin won every round on all five judges’ scorecards, securing a perfect score of 10 in each round.

The 30-year-old Lin had not competed internationally since winning the women’s 57-kg featherweight title at the Paris Olympics in August 2024.

World Boxing took over as the sport’s Olympic-level governing body last year, and it implemented a sex eligibility policy in August requiring all fighters to take a one-time genetic test designed to identify the presence of a Y chromosome.

World Boxing didn't confirm Lin's eligibility until March 19.

It was not clear whether Lin will have to undergo further gene testing if she wants to compete again at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee announced last week new rules banning transgender athletes and a mandatory gene test once in an athlete’s career.

Lin and Imane Khelif of Algeria won gold medals at Paris amid international scrutiny and misconceptions over both boxers’ sex. While both met the eligibility rules followed at the time by the IOC, which ran the Paris tournament, the two fighters’ success sparked a politically charged debate over those standards.

Lin is expected to fight in the Asian tournament semifinals on Monday.

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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing