A PCR test is mandatory for participation in the World Championships. The Olympic champion from Taiwan has no problem with this.
Olympic boxing champion Lin Yuting will undergo the gender test required by World Boxing before the World Championships in Liverpool. This was announced by her coach Tseng Tzuchiang to the AFP news agency. The Taiwanese athlete was at the center of a gender debate at the Olympic Games in Paris, along with Algerian Imane Khelif.
Lin and Khelif had been banned from the 2023 World Championships by the now-suspended IBA for allegedly failing a testosterone test. However, they were allowed to compete in Paris because the IOC only considered the gender stated in their passports to be decisive. Like Lin, Khelif won the gold medal in her weight class, accompanied by attacks and a disinformation campaign by conservative circles that portrayed her as a “man fighting against women.”
World Boxing insists on gender tests
The new amateur world governing body, World Boxing, which is hosting its first world championships in Liverpool (September 4 to 14), insists on gender tests. According to the guidelines, all athletes over the age of 18 must undergo a PCR test. This is a laboratory procedure to detect specific genetic material, in this case the SRY gene. This indicates the presence of the Y chromosome, which serves as an indicator of biological sex.
“They have announced that everyone must undergo testing, so we will do the same,” said Tseng: “If you want to participate in a competition, you have to abide by the rules of the competition. Since we are participating, we will abide by their rules.”
World Boxing, provisionally recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since February, will organize the boxing competitions at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
