Lin Yu-ting beat Svetlana Staneva of Bulgaria by a unanimous decision in a featherweight quarter-final fight on Sunday to ensure Taiwans third boxing medal at the Paris Olympics.
Lin and Algerian Imane Khelif have been at the centre of a social media storm at the Paris Games due to them being disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after falling foul of unspecified International Boxing Associations gender eligibility rules.
The boxing tournament in Paris is being organised by the International Olympic Committee, which stripped the IBA of international recognition in 2023 over governance and finance issues.
IOC president Thomas Bach on Saturday said there was never any doubt that Lin and Khelif were women who had every right to compete at the Paris Olympics.
On Friday, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee said it had voiced its concerns over their presence at the tournament during a meeting with the IOCs Medical and Scientific Commission on July 27.
Lin, the taller boxer, attempted to sit back and let her opponent come to her in the first round, a strategy which had mixed results as she was struck with a few big shots.
In the second round, double world champion Lin was more direct and took the fight to Staneva, who showcased her frustration by grappling Lin and pushing her onto the canvas.
Lin once again found herself on the floor when she was accidentally tripped by Staneva, who held the ropes open for the Taiwanese boxer to exit the ring at the end of the fight.
Lin, who will face Turkeys Esra Yildiz in the semi-finals, is assured of a medal, adding to compatriots Wu Shih-yi and Chen Nien-chin efforts from Saturday.Reuters
In the absence of bronze medal bouts in Olympic boxing, Lin is guaranteed a bronze at minimum. She will face Turkeys Esra Yildiz Kahraman on Wednesday 7th at 20.30, who beat fourth seed Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu of Brazil in the fight after Lins with Staneva.
A reminder that Imane Khelif fights the evening before at 21.34 – both fights take place in a repurposed Roland Garros.
Given the knife-edge upon which Lin and Khelifs presences have sat throughout this tournament, its difficult to immediately tell how friendly the fighters are with each other. Before Khelifs first fight, a former opponent and an Australian counterpart both condemned her eligibility.
Anna Luca Hamori, after fuelling the flames on social media before the fight, was immediate and purposeful in her embracing of Khelif post-bout.
Staneva initially ignored Lin post-fight, but it seems that was more out of frustration – she has just missed out on an Olympic medal aged 33 – Lins counter-attacking game plan clearly grated the Hungarian through the fight. Once the referee had announced the decision, Staneva opened the rope to allow Lin to leave – a known mark of respect in the boxing world.
Unanimous victory for Lin. Never in doubt. Opponent sits on the rope as sign of respect as the Taiwanese is congratulated.
Another guaranteed medal for a boxer at centre of furore.
As expected, Yu-Ting wins unanimously, and after the initial frustration of clearly losing, Staneva shows her respect by opening the ropes for Yu-Tings departure from the ring. The two shake hands and the affair is all quite inconspicuous.
Staneva needed something substantial that round to overturn two split decision losses but couldnt find it. Theyre the same height but Yu-Tings superior reach is telling, as with her last fight.
Yu-Ting goes for an embrace post fight but is ignored. Staneva showed frustration through the round, asking Yu-Ting to come forward – her defensive style has frustrated both of her opponents this tournament.
Yu-Ting wins round so holds a big advantage amidst a messy round. There are two ugly grapples, one that fells Yu-Ting. Staneva in the blue is bizarrely wearing yellow trainers rather than boxing shoes.
This is nothing like the tinderbox scenes of last night. Taiwanese congregation is pretty small but there are no boos for Lin amongst a largely French, three-quarter full arena.
A very even first round at first glance, and its reflected on the 3-2 split on the judges scorecards, Yu-Ting coming through ahead. Staneva is looking to box on the front foot, though, something Turdibekova neglected during Yu-Tings previous fight
Both fighters are in the ring, touch gloves, and were under way.
Following Yu-Tings first fight on Friday, the IOC gave a statement in the evening, President Thomas Bach, accompanied by IOC spokesman Mark Adams, defending their decision to allow Yu-Ting and Khelif to fight. Bach misspoke during the speech, saying this is not a DSD case.
Bach actually meant this is not a transgender case – an error rectified immediately after the speech. Yu-Ting and Khelif are DSD – differences of sexual development – athletes, owing to the the presence of XY chromosomes in their DNA. Whilst this was initially a point of misunderstanding amidst the scandal, opposition to their eligibility has not slowed down despite the IOCs clarification of the case.
Lin Yu-Ting won her first fight unanimously against Uzbekistans Sitora Turdibova. The Taiwanese fighter is the number one seed in the womens featherweight (57kg) division, boasting a record of 41 wins and 14 losses, but is perhaps the lesser profiled of the two boxers to have failed gender tests given her reduced fire power – just one of those wins was a knock out.
Her opponent Staneva has a record of 58-16, and has won her last eight fights. Unlike Hamori before her fight with Khelif yesterday, she has avoided addressing the issue in the press, as has Yu-Ting. Khelif hasnt spoken much herself yesterday, but amidst the furore was very emotional yesterday, so it will be interesting to see how Yu-Ting reacts regardless of todays result.
Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, whose DNA sex test revealed the presence of XY chromosomes, beats Sitora Turdibekova easily on points. The Uzbek walks off without shaking hands pic.twitter.com/ctvDkLnT8X
Oliver Brown (@oliverbrown_tel) August 2, 2024
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the womens featherweight quarterfinal between Taiwans Lin Yu-Ting and Bulgarias Svetlana Staneva, with an Olympic medal up for grabs and a scandal embroiling the build up.
Yu-Ting is one of two fighters, the other being Algerias Imane Khelif, who are banned from International Boxing Association competition for having failed a gender test that reveals the presence of XY chromosomes in their DNA, but are allowed to fight in the IOC governed Olympic boxing event. For many, awareness of this controversy dates back either to the IOC confirming the two are eligible to fight in the build up to the event, or to Khelifs shocking 46-second victory in her first round bout against Angela Carini.
For Staneva, the history is longer. Yu-Ting and Khelif were disqualified from the IBA in March 2023, Khelif prevented from her imminent gold medal fight, Yu-Ting stripped of the bronze that she had just won, with the medal instead given to the opponent she had beaten in the bronze medal match, Staneva.
Relative to Khelifs brutal victory vs Carini, in which one clean punch to the jaw inclined her to abandon the fight, saying she was struggling to breathe having never been hit so hard, Yu-Tings first fight was a less eventful affair. She dominated her opponent, winning by unanimous decision and falling behind on a judges scorecard just once, but Uzbekistans Sitora Turdibekova left the ring in tears, refusing to shake hands with her opponent.
In Khelifs win yesterday, which guaranteed her Algerias first medal of the Games, over 600 Algerians cheered her on vociferously in the crowd, booing her opponent Anna Luca Hamori. Hamori had contributed to the controversy leading up to the fight, reposting incendiary images that depicted Khelif as a beast, but Khelif unquestionably dominated the fight, and the two were amicable after the fight and in their press conferences, shaking hands three times as Hamori went on to wish Khelif luck going forward – something Carini has done after her initial provocative statements straight after the fight.
Khelifs statements were brief, declaring I am a woman initially, before thanking the IOC for their support. Given the vitriolic and enduring nature of the criticism of Khelif and Yu-Tings participation, and the high profile of some critics inside and out of the boxing world, the IOC were inclined to give a statement, president Thomas Bach defending their decision in an erroneous speech. The IBA, meanwhile, has also defended their expulsion of Yu-Ting and Khelif.
Today, then, Yu-Ting and Khelif rekindle their rivalry, and the biggest scandal of the Paris 2024 Games continues without any suggestion that the considerable and growing polarisation over the issue will subside, or prevent Yu-Ting and Khelif from fighting.
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