Milan, 5 June (LaPresse) – Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has been excluded from the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands, just days after World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes. Khelif, who won gold at the Paris Olympics last summer amid controversy over her eligibility, failed to register before the deadline last Thursday. Tournament media director Dirk Renders confirmed, “The decision to exclude Imane is not ours. We regret it.”
Khelif had planned her return to international competition at the Hotel Eindhoven tournament before World Boxing's announcement of its new gender testing policy last Friday. Eindhoven mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem criticized the decision, stating in a letter to the Dutch and International Boxing Federations: “As far as we’re concerned, all athletes are welcome in Eindhoven. Excluding athletes based on controversial sex tests is not in line with that.”
Khelif previously won gold in Paris alongside Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, another gold medalist whose eligibility was also questioned. The former governing body of Olympic boxing, the Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA), had barred both athletes from the 2023 World Championships for failing unspecified eligibility tests.
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