Olympic gold medallist Imane Khelif is bowing out of the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands after World Boxing introduced compulsory sex testing for competitors. The Algerian boxer, who clinched the top spot at the Paris Games amid questions about her eligibility, missed the registration deadline for the prestigious boxing event which closed on Thursday.
“The decision of Imane’s exclusion is not ours. We regret it,” declared tournament media director Dirk Renders to The Associated Press. Against the backdrop of World Boxing’s recent adoption of a new sex verification policy announced just last Friday, the 26 year old Khelif’s planned comeback to international boxing has taken a hit. The governing body even singled out Kheli, insisting she undergo assessment in order to qualify for participation in events going forward, including the Eindhoven Box Cup.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the mayor of Eindhoven, unleashed criticism concerning the controversial stipulation made by World Boxing. He said: “As far as we are concerned, all athletes are welcome in Eindhoven.
“Excluding athletes based on controversial ‘gender tests’ certainly does not fit in with that. We are expressing our disapproval of this decision today and are calling on the organization to admit Imane Khelif after all.”
Khelif clinched a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer, amidst international scrutiny alongside Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, another gold medallist. The pair were disqualified from the 2023 world championships by the then-governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association (IBA), citing failed unspecified eligibility tests.
However, the IBA was ousted due to decades of controversy and misconduct. In its stead, the IOC managed the past two Olympic boxing tournaments, applying the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Under these standards, both Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete.
World Boxing, provisionally approved as the boxing organiser for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, has been under pressure from boxers and their federations to establish sex eligibility standards.
Its president, Boris van der Vorst, issued an apology after Khelif was singled out in the governing body’s announcement last week.
Khelif intended to defend her welterweight gold medal at the LA Games, but some boxers and their federations have already voiced opposition to her inclusion.
Last year, Khelif triumphed at the Eindhoven event, defeating Australia’s Marissa Williamson-Pohlman in the final – a precursor to the Paris Olympics.
The Algerian also participated in the Tokyo Games in 2021 – in the lightweight division, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual gold medallist Kellie Harrington of Ireland.
