World Boxing hopes to reach the “advanced stage” of a survey of gender eligibility lines that destroyed the sport at last year’s Olympic Games and release its findings on the “weeks, not months” issue.
“We don’t have a specific timeline, but we expect it within a few weeks. Van der Vorst said all recommendations require approval by him and the WB Board of Directors,” said Boris van der Volst, president of Boxing’s Governing Body, who was given green light on Monday to host the Olympic Games at Los Angeles 2028.
Two gold-winning boxers at the heart of Paris’ controversy, Algerian Iman Kelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu Ointing have not applied for entry to the World Boxing Cup, which begins on March 31 at Foz de Iguachu. It is not clear whether their national federations will attempt to join the fighters due to the World Cup event that will begin in Kazakhstan on June 30th.
In an interview aired by ITV on Wednesday evening, Keriff highlighted her new resolve to win money in LA. In response to Donald Trump’s false claim that she is a transgender athlete, Keriff said: “I’m not transgender. This doesn’t threaten me, regardless of me.” She said her purpose was to win “of course the second gold medal in America, Los Angeles.”
The bitterness of conflict supports the urgency as global boxing seeks to bring clarity to deep emotional subjects. “This is a very complicated issue with serious welfare concerns,” said van der Volst.
“We have established a working group in line with the Medical Board, which develops gender, age and weight policies, which deals with medical evidence from a wide range of experts around the world, including the Independent Council for Women’s Sports.
“They are developing an updated policy that determines the eligibility of boxers to participate in boxing competitions around the world. It is important that they can provide a competitive level play field for men and women, ensuring the safety of all involved.”
It was an earthquake week for boxing around the world after International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach announced Monday that his executive committee supported the inclusion of sports at the 2028 Olympics held in Los Angeles. The IOC expelled the sport into the wilderness of sports until the advent of world boxing, founded by van der Volst in 2023 in a desperate attempt to save the future of boxing Olympics.
After suspending the International Boxing Association, the unfamous former governing body of sports, the IOC was in charge of tournaments in Paris. The gender eligibility debate has become the most intense sports story of the year. At the 2023 World Championships, Lin took the swab test. This contained enough male chromosomes to disqualify her from the female event, according to the IBA. Khelif recorded similar results in tests conducted by the IBA. Both boxers were classified as females at birth and lived as girls before competing as females.
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Van der Vorst said: “I don’t want to comment on individual boxers, but when I hear people talk about trans athletes, there’s a lot of misconceptions. Boxing doesn’t have transgender people, so it’s very aggressive and misleading.
“I’m for all the boxers. What happened in Paris is very sad and I felt there was no proper procedure based on the previous accusations from the League of Nations (IBA). That felt very inappropriate for me.”
Van der Volst also said, “There are times when these cases are used on political issues and I want to leave. The main purpose is to have an equal playfield that ensures the safety of all participants. I’m waiting for policies from experts, but for me the priority is integrity and safety.”
