Gender-row boxer Lin Yu-ting’s coach said the Taiwanese Olympic champion would target Asian Games gold after stepping up in weight and winning bronze in her first event since the Paris Olympics. Lin, who won gold at 57kg at the 2024 Games, was cleared last month by World Boxing to resume competition at the Asian Elite Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after passing a gender test. She reached the semi-final of the 60kg class but lost to North Korea’s Won Un Gyong.
Her coach, Tseng Tzu-chiang, told AFP that Lin would aim for a second Asian Games gold in Japan later this year after her comeback “breakthrough” this week, having won the 57kg class in Hangzhou in 2023. “Changing weight class is inherently a challenge. Having new competitors is a great way to challenge yourself,” Tseng told AFP in a phone interview from Ulaanbaatar. “It’s definitely a fantastic opportunity because we’ve never encountered any opponents in this weight class before. “It’s a breakthrough.”
The medical committee of World Boxing, the governing body recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), last month finally cleared the 30-year-old Lin to return to the ring. “It’s a new weight class and she hasn’t been able to compete on the stage for a long time,” said Tseng.
“Of course, the gender test is also a challenge and now that we’ve passed that hurdle, we’ll focus on doing our best in the Asian Games.” Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif were embroiled in a gender-eligibility row at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where they won golds in separate weight classes.
Both had been barred from the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) 2023 world championships for failing eligibility tests. The IOC allowed them to compete in Paris, saying they had been victims of “a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA”. World Boxing subsequently introduced a policy that fighters who want to participate in the women’s category need to take a one-off genetic test. Lin was tested last year, but World Boxing did not reveal the results. She missed the world championships in September after reportedly failing to get a response from World Boxing.