UZBEKISTANI boxer Sitora Turdibekova left the Paris Olympics in floods of tears after losing her last 16 bout to controversial gender-row boxer Lin Yu-Ting.
Taiwan’s Lin has been caught in the centre of controversy at the Paris Olympics alongside Algeria’s Imane Khelif.
Both Lin and Khelif were disqualified from last year’s World Championships in New Delhi after failing gender eligibility tests, before both were given the green light by the IOC to fight in Paris.
Khelif sparked global debate when her Italian opponent Angela Carini quit after 46 seconds of their welterweight bout.
But Lin didn’t allow the noise to get to her as she got the better of Sitora Turdibekova in her opening contest in Paris.
The top seed in the women’s 57kg category breezed into the quarter-finals with a unanimous decision win – although Turdibekova proved a tough opponent and claimed one of the rounds, on one of the scorecards.
And Turdibekova was overwhelmed with emotion as she left the arena – and, like Carini, refused to shake hands with the victor after the bell.
Lin and Khelif’s inclusion in the French capital has been a major point of controversy.
Lin’s win comes a day after controversy erupted when Khelif won her first fight in the women’s welterweight event amid an eligibility row.
Both women failed unspecified tests carried out by the IBA at the World Championships in 2023, resulting in Lin being stripped of her featherweight bronze and Khelif being disqualified hours before her gold medal bout.
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Lin was the subject of further sex testing after returning home following the World Championships, which proved she was female, according to Focus Taiwan.
With the disgraced IBA no longer recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as boxing’s world governing body, Khelif and Lin were both allowed to compete at Paris 2024.
Neither Khelif or Lin identify as transgender or intersex.
But the former’s victory over Carini sparked a major backlash.
The Italian through in the towel just 46 seconds into the opening round, after taking took a pair of shots to the face.
Lin has been beaten 14 times in her career and only scored one knock-out in 54 fights.
Lin sets up a last-eight clash against Bulgarian Svetlana Staneva, who beat Ireland’s Michaela Walsh.
This is a more complicated case than the barrage of shameful transgender scandals which have engulfed women’s sport in recent years.
Khelif reportedly has a condition called Swyer Syndrome which means she has some female reproductive organs but also much higher levels of testosterone than women.
As a result, she has a superior physicality to females, which can be seen by her tall, powerful frame.
In other words, she has an unfair advantage.
And that’s why there’s been such a furious response, led by JK Rowling, Elon Musk, and Martina Navratilova, to the footage of Carini quitting after being smashed in the face.
The obvious, indisputable, medical, and scientific, truth is that someone born with male biology of any kind has an obvious physical advantage over biological females.
That’s why we keep the sexes apart in the Olympics.
Otherwise, women would barely win a single medal.
To pretend otherwise is to be either utterly deluded or wilfully dishonest.
