New Delhi: Olympic gold-medallist boxer Imane Khelif is missing the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands, and the development comes less than a week after the World Boxing announced their new policy of mandatory sex testing for all athletes. Khelif, who hails from Algeria, had won the top prize at the Paris Games last summer amid a row over gender eligibility.
She did not register in time for the Eindhoven event before applications closed on Thursday. “The decision of Imane’s exclusion is not ours. We regret it,” Dirk Renders, tournament media director, told news agency The Associated Press. The Box Cup tournament this weekend was about to see her return to international competition before World Boxing announced its new sex testing policy last Friday.
The governing body specifically mentioned 26-year-old Khelif, saying she’d have to undergo screening to be approved to fight at any upcoming women’s events, including the Eindhoven event. Its mayor, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, criticized the decision taken by World Boxing as he wrote a letter addressed to the Dutch Boxing Federation and International Boxing Federation (IBF).
“As far as we are concerned, all athletes are welcome in Eindhoven. Excluding athletes based on controversial gender tests certainly does not fit in with that. We are expressing our disapproval of this decision today and are calling on the organization to admit Imane Khelif after all,” the letter from Dijsselbloem read.
More to follow…
Imane Khelif will be skipping the Eindhoven Box Cup event in the Netherlands after the World Boxing recently announced the new policy of mandatory gender testing for all the athletes. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
