Lin Yu-ting wins opening Olympics bout on points amid gender controversy

Lin Yu-ting, one of the boxers at the centre of a gender row at the Olympics, won her opening bout on points after two-time gold medallist Nicola Adams waded into the controversy.

While cleared to compete, the participation of Lin and Imane Khelif at Paris 2024 has led to scrutiny as they were disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

After Algeria’s Khelif won inside 46 seconds on Thursday, her beaten opponent – Italy’s Angela Carini – described that she had “never felt a punch like this” and the debate has intensified.

Carini has now apologised for her reaction to abandoning her fight, telling Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: “All this controversy makes me sad. I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

Chinese Taipei fighter Lin, the top seed in the women’s featherweight (-57kg) category, put the drama momentarily to one side with a unanimous decision victory over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.

While there was one score of 29-28 and four of 30-27 in favour of Lin, this was far from the mismatch of 24 hours earlier, with Turdibekova able to get inside her taller and rangier opponent’s guard.

Ultimately, the cleaner work came from Lin and she set up a quarter-final contest against Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva, who defeated Irish favourite Michaela Walsh on all five judges’ scorecards.

Neither Lin, who was cheered on her way to the ring with no audible boos, nor Turdibekova stopped to speak to the media afterwards. The pair shared a handshake before the result was read out but not afterwards.

Adams, the two-time Olympic flyweight champion, expressed her fears for anyone going through male puberty to fight