Lin Yu-ting defeated her female opponent in just 94 seconds in her return to the ring on Tuesday night. The 29-year-old, who clinched gold in the women’s featherweight division at last year’s Paris Olympics, was back in action at Taiwan’s National Games. Her victory in Paris had been mired in controversy as she had previously been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for failing a gender eligibility test.
Despite this, she made a triumphant return to the ring last night. Competing in the women’s 60kg division, she faced off against 19-year-old university student Pan Yan-fei. However, the bout was over in just over a minute. Taiwanese reports suggest that Lin knocked out her opponent, who suffered several head shots and appeared short of breath during the fight.
The referee called a halt to the match, and the result was recorded as ‘abandoned’ after Pan’s coach threw in the towel. Lin was scheduled to compete at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool last month, but it was confirmed just days before the event that she would not be attending. No explanation was provided for her absence.
Meanwhile, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in January over World Boxing’s decision to exclude her from its events without a preliminary genetic sex test.
Khelif clinched the Olympic women’s welterweight gold in Paris last summer, having been given the green light to compete by the International Olympic Committee, despite being banned from the previous year’s World Championships by the International Boxing Association for allegedly not meeting gender eligibility criteria.
Following her golden triumph, Khelif declared: “I am fully qualified to take part in this competition – I am a woman.
“I was born a woman, I’ve lived as a woman and I’ve competed as a woman. There’s no doubt that there are enemies of success, and that gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
Khelif has consistently asserted that she was born a woman, lived as a woman and competed as a woman.