Olympic champ Khelif has to undergo gender test to continue fighting
CHENNAI: If the Paris Olympic Games were to be held this summer, then Imane Khelif might not have competed. The World Boxing (WB) has now come out with a contentious decision on "mandatory sex testing". All boxers, including Khelif, will have to undergo the test. The WB is right now the International Olympic Committee-recognised body and crossed the 100-national federation mark recently. This is not the first time she would be ineligible, the boxer was banned by the now-defunct International Boxing Association during the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi.
The WB said in a late night statement that it would "introduce mandatory sex testing, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes that want to take part in its competitions."
Gender issues overshadowed the Paris Olympic Games, at least towards the last few days. The Paris Boxing Unit was in charge of conducting the event in the absence of a IOC-recognised body. As is usually the case, boxing without controversy seems like a pipedream. The crisis this time was not so much about refereeing but a decision that did not go down too well with quite a few national boxing federations and it was related to gender. Two boxers – Khelif of Algeria and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting — were the centre of attention then. Italy's Angela Carini withdrew merely 46 seconds into the first bout against Khelif, because of the pain she felt from those opening punches. The IOC had said in a statement then that the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport and she was a born female. Despite the noise, Khelif had gone on to capture the gold medal then.
The WB has also written to the Algerian Boxing Federation of their decision and informed them that Khelif will not be eligible to fight any of the WB events until she undergoes sex testing. "Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup, 5-10 June 2025 and any World Boxing event until Khelif undergoes genetic sex test..."
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