French Boxers Out of World Cup Due to Gender Tests
PARIS – Five French female boxers will miss the world championship starting this Thursday in England due to complications with the new mandatory gender tests, implemented after the controversy at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The French team expressed “astonishment and indignation” at not being able to compete, after missing the deadline to submit the test results from England. These tests are prohibited in France under these sporting circumstances, due to a law that protects the privacy of women. World Boxing announced its mandatory testing policy on May 30, in response to last year’s controversy in Paris, where Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan won gold medals, amid doubts about their eligibility. Female boxers must undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or an equivalent genetic screening test to determine their sex at birth. The new boxing governing body, which was not involved in the Paris Olympics and was provisionally recognized by the IOC in February, suggested that the French federation was responsible for failing to meet the deadline prior to the world championships in Liverpool.The organization has made it clear that testing will be the responsibility of the national federations, as they have the closest links and the greatest access to their boxers and are in the best position to manage the testing process. The French boxing federation stated that it was told to expect the results “within 24 hours and that, therefore, we could, without fail, present them when registering our female boxers”. The five excluded boxers are Romane Moulai, Wassila Lkhadiri, Melissa Bounoua, Sthélyne Grosy and Maëlys Richol. Maëlys Richol shared a message on her Instagram page from Estelle Mossely, former candidate to lead the French boxing federation, asking for the resignation of those responsible. Imane Khelif will also not compete in Liverpool after failing to obtain an urgent provisional decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in her broader appeal against World Boxing’s testing mandate.“It is very disappointing for female boxers that some national federations have not been able to complete this process on time,” World Boxing stated on Thursday in a statement.
World Boxing
