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Lin Yu-Ting, one of the boxers at the centre of a bitter eligibility row at the Olympic Games, has reached the women’s featherweight final.
She beat Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman on points in their 57kgs semi-final at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
Taiwanese boxer Lin and Algeria’s Imane Khelif were disqualified from the World Championships last year due to an unspecified eligibility test administered by IBA, the boxing federation that has been banned from running the Olympic tournament by the IOC.
Both had boxed in several bouts at the Worlds before IBA disqualified them mid-competition, and both Lin and Khelif meet the IOC’s criteria for competing at the Games. However that hasn’t prevented a controversy from erupting on social media, targeting both boxers.
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Imane Khelif reaches the Olympics women’s boxing 66kg final after beating her Thai opponent Janjaem Suwannapheng and received tremendous support from the crowd watching on
Despite all the scrutiny and pressure, neither has let it disrupt their progression through the tournament. Lin booked her place in the 57kgs final with a unanimous decision victory over Turkey’s Yildiz Kahraman.
Yildiz Kahraman rushed forward looking to negate Lin’s advantage in height and reach, swinging at the tall Taiwanese boxer. But once Lin had secured the first round on the judges’ cards she made sure to move and box at range, clipping her opponent with neat lead hooks and popping in her jab in the last round as ideas and energy appeared to leak out of the Turkish fighter.
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Imane Khelif has called for an end to online abuse
The crowd in the spectacular arena gave Lin a tremendous ovation when she arrived for the contest and were even louder in her support when her victory was announced. Lin bowed deeply to the audience as she departed the field of play.
Yildiz Kahraman however was pictured after the bout crossing her fingers to make an ‘x’ sign. When asked to explain the gesture her only reply in English was “no comment”.
Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman does an ‘X’ sign with their hands following defeat to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting
Lin did not address it afterwards.
“I will use everything I’ve learned in my life to do my best in the next match,” she said. “I am one fight closer to my goal of the gold medal. I really enjoyed that fight.
“Every athlete here is among the best in the world, so I will have to do my best to prepare for the final.
“The feeling of entering the gold medal match is one of gratitude to myself for making it this far. After going out in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics, it’s been a tough journey to reach the finals.
“Thank you to all the supporters who have supported and encouraged me along the way. I will give my utmost effort to repay them at the final.”
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IOC president Thomas Bach says they will not take part in a ‘politically motivated war’, calling the treatment of the Olympic boxers on social media ‘totally unacceptable’
Lin will box Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the 57kgs final on Saturday. In the other semi-final on Wednesday Szeremeta got a surprise decision win over the Philippines’ Nesty Petecio, a strong world champion who was arguably the leading contender for gold in this weight class.
Petecio defeated Lin in the last Olympic Games.
Exiting this tournament with a bronze medal, Petecio did voice her support for Lin’s participation in the Games, saying that she should be allowed to box.
“Yes, she is one of the very tough contenders here,” Petecio said. “I was hoping to see her in the final, but sadly not now.”
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