Chinese Taipei’s coach slams suggestions Lin Yu-Tin is a man as besieged IOC faces medal ‘problem’

The gender debate raged for a second day in Paris. Just 24 hours of Imane Khelif belted her Italian rival, a second intersex athlete won — and was snubbed by her teary opponent.

Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori has inflamed tensions ahead of her upcoming bout with controversial boxer Imane Khelif, sharing a mock photograph of the Algerian portrayed as a cartoon beast.

Hamori had claimed to be not scared of Khelif who had smashed the face of her first opponent, Italian Angela Carini on Thursday.

“If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win,” she said.

Hamori meets Khelif on Saturday in the latest scandal of the Paris Olympics but the picture she shared on social media has indicated exactly what she feels she is up against. The image of the cartoon monster with horns looking down at a young girl was on an instagram account and Hamori shared it to her stories, but it appeared to have been taken down on Friday evening local time.

Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori want to take on Imane Khelif. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Khelif has been at the centre of global outrage because the International Boxing Association disqualified her ahead of the 2023 world championship for failing two gender eligibility tests and sparking safety concerns from rivals at the Olympics. The IOC, which says it used the gender listed in passports of the boxers has ruled out re-introducing sex testing nor change rules mid-competition.

Hamori has told the IOC to “bring it on”, and had earlier said: “I don’t care about the stories, what is going on the social media right now. I just want to stay focused on myself and I know why I came here. I want to get a medal from the Olympic Games. So I don’t care about anything. I will go to the ring and I will get my win.”

A image reposted by Hungarian boxer Luca Hamori ahead of fight with XY boxer Imane Khelif.

Chinese Taipei’s national coach has blasted speculation his fighter Lin Yu-Ting is a man as the IOC’s worst boxing nightmare prepares to smack them in the face at the Paris Olympics.

Yu-Ting’s mentor Tseng Tzu-Chiang declared his fighter is female as the IOC’s biological firestorm raged for a second consecutive day at North Paris Arena.

Just 24 hours after Algeria’s Imane Khelif bashed Italian Angela Carini in a 46-second cakewalk, Yu-Ting — the second intersex athlete permitted by the IOC to fight at these Games — entered the ring.

Unlike Khelif’s one-sided carve-up, there was no brutal massacre from Yu-Ting, who was disqualified from last year’s IBA-run world championships after failing a sex test.

Lin Yu-Ting from Chinese Taipei celebrates victory as her rival refuses to shake hands. Picture: Adam Head

The 28-year-old No.1 seed was purposeful without being ferociously powerful, Yu-Ting claiming a unanimous decision over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova to reach the quarter finals in the 57kg class.

Turdibekova did not shake Yu-Ting’s hand after the fight and left in tears.

Clearly mindful of the gender maelstrom swirling around them, Yu-Ting refused to front the media, whisked away with a towel covering her face.

Tzu-Chiang also made a dash for the exits, only to be cornered by this masthead, prompting the veteran coach to address suggestions Yu-Ting should be banned from fighting women.

“She is woman, yes,“ Tzu-Chiang said. ”We are just enjoying these Olympic Games.“

Asked if Yu-Ting had the biological right to fight against women at these Olympics, he replied: “I don’t know”, before bowing and walking away.

Yu-Ting claimed an easy points decision. Picture: Adam Head

Aussie fighter Tina Rahimi, who fights in the same 57kg class as Yu-Ting, doesn’t support the IOC’s stance but called for transperency on both sides of the debate.

“I definitely don’t believe that XY athlete chromosomes or should be participating in a women’s sport,” Rahimi said after losing her bout in Paris.

“I definitely don’t agree with that, um, but at the same time, you know, we need proof, we need evidence before there’s all this, talk about these athletes, you know, they’re human at the end of the day.”

The IOC insists it will not change their eligibility rules and has ruled out “pretty disgraceful” sex testing, which was used up until the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Now the inferno of debate threatens to become a bona fide public-relations disaster.

Fresh from her round of 16 caning of Carini, Khelif returns to the ring on Sunday morning (AEST) and if the Algerian defeats Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, the XY chromosome athlete will have at least clinched a bronze medal.

Tunisia’s national coach Sami Khlifi said he has known Khelif for a “long time” and admits he wants the 25-year-old to win gold.

That scenario, he concedes, would pose headaches for an IOC organisation at loggerheads with the International Boxing Association over the duo’s eligibility.

Algeria's Imane Khelif is at the centre of the boxing controversy. Picture: MOHD RASFAN / AFP

“Yes, it’s a very big subject. It’s a problem,” Khlifi said.

“I’ve known that boxer (Khelif) for a long time.

“I knew her as a girl and now all that changes with a question mark.

“The International Olympic Committee has allowed her to participate and continue in the competition and I hope she goes right to the end and wins a medal for the Arab world.”

Yu-Ting has been the subject of “slander and misdirected fanfare”, according to Chinese Taipei media outlets, and say she has identified as a girl since birth.

It is unclear what chromosomal differences and what advantages, if any, she has. But Yu-Ting, who calls herself “little strong”, has boxed against boys and men all her career.

Carini attempted to defuse the controversy the day after her loss to Khelif, apologising and adding: “If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

If Yu-Ting and Khelif both surge to gold, the groundswell of pressure for reform will become a tidal wave.

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