The French boxing female team is deprived of the World Boxing World Championships (September 4-14 in Liverpool) because the results of the femininity tests required to participate could not be transmitted in time, the French Federation announced on Thursday.
“It is with amazement and indignation that the staff of the French team learned this Wednesday evening that French boxers could not participate in the first world championships organized by World Boxing,” the body wrote in a statement.
Romane Moulai (-48 kg), Wassila Lkhadiri (-51 kg), Melissa Bounoua (-54 kg), Sthelyne Grosy (-57 kg) and Maëlys Richol (-65 kg) initially had to take part in competition.
Almost a year after the lively controversy of the Paris Olympic Games concerning the femininity of Algerian boxers Imane Khelif and Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting both absent in Liverpool, the new International Federation World Boxing had announced at the end of May its decision to make femininity tests compulsory.
“A sports disaster”
However, these tests being prohibited in France except under certain very supervised conditions, the French Federation explains that it could have carried out them only to its arrival in Great Britain. The supervision of the Bleues was therefore oriented towards a laboratory accredited by World Boxing with insurance, affirms the FFBOXE, that the results would be available within the time limits.
“However, despite the guarantees repeated by World Boxing, the laboratory, which it had itself recommended (…) has not been able to deliver the results of the exams in time, regrets the federation. With, as a consequence, the exclusion of our athletes as well as other boxers of foreign delegations who also found themselves trapped. »»
Unhappy candidate for the presidency of the French Federation last year, Estelle Mossely denounced “a sports disaster” and “a professional fault on the part of the people in charge of athletes”.
“Not at all attributable to the French Federation”
“I dare not imagine the state in which the girls, victims of the errors and shortcomings of their own federation must be, said the 2016 Olympic champion.
However, the tricolor instance defended itself from any negligence. “This dysfunction, which has a notorious damage to our athletes, is not at all attributable to the French Federation,” she writes. On the contrary, (this one) mobilized from the start to meet the requirements of World Boxing and relying on the latter’s commitments. »»
The Maëlys Richol boxer for its part has expressed its “frustration”, its “anger” and its “disappointment”. “After a whole year of work, we find ourselves excluded not for a sporting issue, but because of disastrous and unfair management. It’s extremely hard to take. »»
