Five French boxers will not be able to participate in the World Championship that starts in England on Thursday. This is due to complications with newly introduced compulsory tests determining gender, which were introduced after last year’s controversy at the Paris Olympics. The results did not arrive in time, so the athletes were removed from the starting list.
The French team said that “with astonishment and indignation” had to accept the message that his representatives would not be able to start because the test results did not arrive in England in time. In France itself, this type of testing is forbidden to protect women’s privacy in the given sports conditions, AP said.
The World Boxing Organization (World Boxing) announced its compulsory testing policy on May 30 in response to last year’s wave controversy in Paris. At that time, Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Y-Ting from Taiwan became the target of doubt. According to the new rules, all boxers must undergo PCR test or equivalent genetic examination to determine sex at birth.
The newly established World Boxing Organization, which was temporarily acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee this February, indicated that the French Federation was responsible for the delay. “It is a big disappointment for boxers that some national federations could not complete the process in time,” the organization said in Thursday’s statement. “The organization clearly declared that testing is the responsibility of the national federations because they are closest to the boxers and can best provide the process.” However, the French boxing federation claims that it has been promised to deliver the results within 24 hours. So the fact that he will be able to present them without problems when registering boxers.
Romane Moulai, Wassila Lkhadiri, Melissa Bounoua, Sthélyne Grosy and Maëlys Richol were excluded from participation in the World Championship. Richol, on her Instagram, shared the challenge of the former candidate for the leadership of the French Federation Estelle Mossely, who demanded the resignation of responsible officials.
Khelif itself, which failed to ask for an extraordinary interim measure at the Sports Arbitration Court in its wider appeal against compulsory testing, will not appear at the championship.
