Taiwan’s Lin Yu Ointing and Algeria’s Iman Kelif have missed the World Boxing Championships amid ongoing gender row.
Released on September 2, 2025
Taiwan’s Olympic boxing gold medalist Lin Yu-Ting will not compete at the World Championships starting this week despite reportedly submitting gender test results.
Lin and Algerian boxer Iman Kelif were at the heart of major gender conflicts at the 2024 Parish Games.
World Boxing last month said women who want to compete in the championship held in Liverpool from September 4-14 should take the mandatory gender test under the new policy.
Lin, 29, had agreed to take the test, her director Tseng Tzu-Chiang said at the time.
“She is not considering withdrawing from the competition for a new gender test. As part of the usual procedure, she will submit all relevant documents requested by the organizers,” Tseng says.
Taiwan’s Boxing Association has submitted the results to World Boxing and said it had not received a response, the semi-official Central News Agency reported late Monday.
“Athletes cannot travel to the UK without guarantees,” the association was quoted as saying.
In a message Tuesday, the association told news agency AFP that Lin “will not attend the World Championships in Liverpool,” but did not give or answer any other questions from the AFP.
Lin’s coach Tseng did not respond to calls or messages.
AFP contacted World Boxing for comments.
Under that policy, fighters over the age of 18 who want to participate in the global boxing approval competition must undergo PCR or polymerase chain reaction gene testing.
Lin and Khelif were excluded from the International Boxing Association (IBA) 2023 World Championship after saying the IBA failed eligibility tests.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed them to compete in Paris, saying they were victims of a “sudden arbitrary decision by the IBA.” Both won.
Khelif turned to CAS, the sports topcourt, to challenge the World Boxing gender test.
Currently, neither boxers are planning to compete in Liverpool.
Keriff and Lynn were exposed to rumours about their biological sex and disinformation during a Paris match, as well as attacks on social media.
The IOC jumps to their defense and has passports proof of it, saying they were born and raised as women.
