Olympic boxing controversy as Lin Yu-ting's beaten opponent becomes second fighter to make protest
Turkey's Esra Yildiz caused more boxing controversy at the Olympics after making a protest in the ring after losing to Lin Yu-ting in their 57kg semi-final contest.Both boxers at the centre of the Olympic boxing gender controversy are through to the gold medal fights in their respective categories.Imane Khelif booked her spot in the final of the 66kg category with a convincing win over Janjaem Suwannapheng.And Yu-ting, a two-time world champion, followed suit in the women's 57kg category with a 5-0 victory over Yildiz 24 hours later.The top seed has made light work of all her fights at the Olympics so far but her involvement in the competition has caused a stir among boxers.Svetlana Staneva lost to the Taiwanese boxer in the quarter-finals and made her feelings known by performing a double x-sign protest in the middle of the ring.The gesture was seemingly in reference to the female chromosome amid unproven reports from the International Boxing Association that both Lin and Khelif had XY chromosomes.And Yildiz repeated Staneva's protest in the ring following her defeat to Lin on Wednesday evening.The Turkish boxer declined to explain what the gesture meant after the semi-final defeat.Lin is now through to the gold medal fight in the 57kg category, where she will face Poland's Julia Szeremeta on Saturday."The feeling of entering the gold-medal match is one of gratitude to myself for making it this far," Lin said."After going out in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics, it's been a tough journey to reach the finals."Lin and Khelif fought in Tokyo with zero controversy surrounding their involvement and neither won a medal.The allegations against both boxers stem from the women's world championships last year when the IBA disqualified them midway through the competition for failing 'gender eligibility tests'.It remains unclear what the eligibility tests consisted of with contrasting reports on whether the boxers tested positive for the male XY chromosomes or high levels of testosterone.LATEST SPORT NEWS: China arrest woman for 'slanderous' comments made about Olympic athletes after divisive table tennis finalImane Khelif 'doesn't care' about Olympics gender boxing row after sealing spot in gold medal fightTeam GB star George Mills goes berserk at French athlete after falling in chaotic Olympic 5000m heatThe International Olympic Committee (IOC), which no longer recognises the IBA as boxing's governing body, have hit out at the Russian-led federation for making Lin and Khelif "victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision".IOC president Thomas Bach has launched a staunch defence of both boxers, insisting there was "never any doubt" both are women."We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman."This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman."
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