BOXING: Taiwan's Lin takes bronze at Asian championships in competitive return

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting claimed a bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Elite Championships on Monday, marking her return to competition after a gender-eligibility dispute overshadowed her Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.

Lin had skipped last year’s World Championships after World Boxing introduced a policy requiring women boxers to undergo mandatory sex testing. The rule came a year after Lin and Algeria’s Imane Khelif both won gold in Paris amid a gender controversy.

Following an appeal from Taiwan’s boxing federation, Lin was cleared last month to compete in the female category, allowing her to return to the ring at the Asian championships in Mongolia.

Competing in the 60kg division for the first time—after winning Olympic gold at 57kg—Lin was defeated in the semi-finals by North Korea’s Won Un Gyong, securing the bronze medal.

“After all, this is our first time competing in the 60kg division after the Olympics,” Lin’s coach, Tseng Tzu-chiang, told Taiwan’s Central News Agency. “The opponents’ skills, strategies, and styles are all new to us, so we used this opportunity to observe and learn.”

Tseng added that Lin is preparing for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, later this year. “Yu-ting hasn’t competed in a long time, and it was evident that her physical condition wasn’t quite up to par. Losing this time isn’t a bad thing; at least there’s room for improvement and a clear path forward.”

Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Reuters