Olympic gender-row boxer knocks out opponent in just 94 SECONDS on controversial return
Lin Yu-ting, one of the gender-row boxers at last year's Olympics, made a winning return to the ring at Taiwan's National Games on Tuesday night
Lin Yu-ting returned to the ring in controversial fashion as she beat her female opponent inside in just 94 seconds on Tuesday night. The 29-year-old won gold in the women's featherweight division during last year's Paris Olympics.
But there was controversy around her victory in the French capital, as she had previously been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for failing a gender eligibility test. But, amid the controversy, she made a winning return to the ring last night at Taiwan's National Games.
Fighting in the women's 60kg division, she took on 19-year-old university student Pan Yan-fei. However, the fight only lasted just over a minute.
According to reports in Taiwan, Lin knocked out her opponent, who became 'subjected to several head shots and appeared short of breath' during the bout. The referee subsequently halted the match, and the result was recorded as 'abandoned' after Pan's coach threw in the towel.
Lin had been due to box at last month's World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, but just a couple of days before the event was due to start, it was confirmed that she would not attend the competition. No reason was ever given as to why.
Algerian fighter Imane Khelif, meanwhile, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) back in January over World Boxing's decision to bar her from its events without a preliminary genetic sex test. Khelif won Olympic women's welterweight gold in Paris last summer, having been cleared to compete by the International Olympic Committee, despite the International Boxing Association having banned her from the previous year's World Championships for allegedly failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
After her gold medal victory, Khelif said: "I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I am a woman.
"I was born a woman, I've lived as a woman and I've competed as a woman. There's no doubt that there are enemies of success, and that gives my success a special taste because of these attacks."
Khelif has always maintained she was born a woman, lived as a woman and competed as a woman.
