Taiwanese boxer shrugs off controversy to win gold

[Pelican Press 0]

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Taiwanese boxer shrugs off controversy to win gold

Boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan has won Olympic gold in the women’s featherweight division following Imane Khelif’s lead a day earlier with a glittering response to the intense scrutiny faced by both fighters over misconceptions about their womanhood.

Lin beat Julia Szeremeta of Poland 5-0 in the final at Roland Garros on Saturday night, capping her four-****** unbeaten run through Paris by ensuring Taiwan’s first Olympic boxing medal is golden.

On Friday, Khelif won Algeria’s first women’s boxing medal with a decisive victory in her own final, beating Yang Liu of China.

Both fighters persevered through an avalanche of criticism and uninformed speculation about their **** during the Paris tournament to deliver the best performances of their boxing careers.

Lin won all four of her bouts 5-0, even if she didn’t win every round on every judge’s card as Khelif did.

World leaders, celebrities and millions of online critics have either questioned both boxers’ eligibility to be in women’s competitions or claimed they were men.

Both fighters were disqualified last year from the world championships organised by the International Boxing Association, a Russian-dominated governing body banished from the Olympics since 2019.

The IBA said they ******* an eligibility test for women’s competition, but it has struggled to defend its claims since they resurfaced at the Olympics, occasionally giving contradictory information or saying they were asked not to give details by the boxers’ national federations.

That didn’t stop the criticism and speculation from proliferating online.

Lin hadn’t been as dominant or as dynamic as Khelif in Paris, but she steadily rolled toward the final as the top seed in the women’s 57kg division.

The 1.75m Lin took the ring to loud cheers and dozens of Olympic-style ******** Taipei flags waving in the stands.

She used her long left jab from the start, keeping the 20-year-old Szeremeta at bay and setting up combinations. Lin’s quick hands saw her dominate the first two rounds with a wealth of clear punches landed.

Lin cruised to victory, gleefully dodging a few of Szeremeta’s too-slow punches in the final minute.

After having her hand raised and holding open the ropes for Szeremeta’s departure in a typical boxing gesture of sportsmanship, Lin went to the centre of the ring, knelt on the Paris 2024 logo and touched her head to the canvas.

The 29-year-old has fashioned a solid career as a top boxer, winning world championships in 2018 and 2022.

She reached the semi-finals of last year’s world championships before the IBA disqualified her and stripped her of a bronze medal.

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