Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting has advanced to the gold medal fight in boxing’s featherweight division after winning her third consecutive bout amid false claims about her gender at the Paris Olympics.
The day before, Algerian Imane Khelif, another boxer surrounded by these claims, also made it to the final, but in the welterweight category. Yesterday, Lin defeated Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman by unanimous decision.
Lin will fight for gold on Saturday against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta.
“I will use everything I have learned in my life to do my best in the next fight,” Lin said.
Khelif and Lin have won every round of their three bouts at these Games, despite the distraction caused by last year’s decision by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
The body, which is currently banned from the Olympic movement, disqualified the two boxers from the World Championships, allegedly for failing an eligibility test.
Both fighters have responded to the unwanted attention by putting on perhaps the best performances of their long amateur careers. Like Khelif, Lin has never been a dominant champion in her sport, but that hasn’t stopped many observers from regarding both as unbeatable fighters at the Olympics following their disqualification by the IBA last year.
Cuban gold
Erislandy Álvarez prevented Cuba from leaving without Olympic boxing gold, winning yesterday by split decision over Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha in the super lightweight category.
The boxer from the province of Cienfuegos achieved revenge against Oumiha, of Moroccan descent, who had defeated him in his most recent fight.
“A very tough opponent, who had already beaten me in the 2023 World Cup, but I have changed, I have had a positive mindset and I went out to box, to put on a show and to win,” said Álvarez.
The judges gave the victory to the Antillean by 3-2.
It was the 41st gold medal won by the island in Olympic boxing history. In total, Cuba has 78 Olympic medals in this contact sport.—AP
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2024-08-15 12:01:29
