THE boxer favored to win the gold in Nesthy Petecio’s weight category has been given the green light to compete in the Paris Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee said Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei is eligible to fight in the 57kg category of women’s boxing despite failing a gender eligibility test in last year’s World Championships in New Delhi.
READ: Nesthy Petecio dazzles in Paris opener, moves on to round of 16
The Olympic body announced Lin - along with fellow female boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria - had complied with all the rules of the Paris Games and is therefore suited to fight.
Lin, 28, is the top seed in the women’s 57 kg class where Petecio is also competing. She drew a bye in the opening round and will now take on Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in the Round of 16.
The tall and lanky Chinese Taipei bet was the same opponent Petecio beat in the Tokyo Olympics Round of 16, 3-2, to reach the quarterfinals. Lin was likewise the top seed in the women's featherweight four years ago.
But Lin scored a payback against the Filipina when she bundled Petecio out in the round-of-16 of the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, where the Chinese Taipei boxer eventually won the gold.
Also in 2023, Lin won the bronze in the world meet, but was later stripped of the medal for failing a gender test.
Lin Yu-ting's road to Paris
The world meet was sanctioned by the International Boxing Association (IBA, or formerly AIBA), and ruled that as per DNA tests, Lin and Khelif were proven to ‘have XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events,’ according to association president Umar Kremlev of Russia.
Khelif was actually disqualified just hours before her gold medal match against Yang Liu of China.
READ Marcial bows out in Paris after being frustrated by Uzbek foe
But for the second straight Olympics, the IBA were kept out of the Games by the IOC due to its questionable governance and other boxing-related scandals.
Similar to the Tokyo Games, the IOC has instead created the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU) to run the Olympic competitions.
“The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules (enforced at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the related qualifying tournaments) as a baseline to develop its regulations,” the IOC said in a statement.
“Those rules descended from the Rio 2016 rules. The PBU endeavored to restrict amendments to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”
Petecio, however, won’t find Lin in her path early on and the two would only meet in a possible rematch during the gold medal round.
The Filipina won her debut in Paris early Wednesday with a methodical 5-0 win over Jaismine of India in the Round of 32.
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