Opponent of gender-row boxer Lin Yu-ting protests after suffering defeat

Another beaten opponent of one of the two boxers who failed sex tests performed a double X-sign protest in the ring after being denied an Olympic medal.

Controversy-engulfed Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif are now guaranteed at least bronze in Paris after winning their bouts on consecutive days.

As Lin swept into her semi-final just as easily as Khelif had done the night before, losing Bulgarian opponent Svetlana Staneva pulled off her gloves, pointed to herself and made a double-tap X symbol with her fingers. It was an apparent reference to her female chromosomes and she also appeared to be shouting “no, no” after the fight. No explanation or further context was offered as she then, clearly upset, swept past journalists afterwards without answering a single question.

Before the gesture, this morning’s bout at a three-quarters-full Paris Nord Arena had been nothing like the tinderbox scenes of Khelif’s fight the night before. There had been raucous scenes as 600 French-Algerians showed up to rally behind Khelif, who was left crying “I am a woman”.

Lin, the runaway favourite to claim gold, does not speak any English and instead spoke to Taiwanese media, who did not ask about the furore. She is understood to have told them she deleted her social-media accounts before even setting off for Paris.

Instead, Staneva’s coach was the only figure willing to address the controversy of these Games, questioning with some nuance whether the system was fit for purpose after the Taiwanese easily won her bout. “I am not a medical person so I shouldn’t say if Lin should or should not compete,” Borislav Georgiev told the BBC. “But when the test shows that he or she has the Y chromosome she should not be here.”

The Bulgaria coach had also been holding a white piece of paper with the words “I only want to play with women I am XX” scrawled on it. Georgiev confirmed to Bulgarian journalists that he wrote the note. “This is maybe the message from every single woman boxer in this tournament,” Georgiev said in Bulgarian, which a reporter in the interview area translated.

Bulgarian president Rumen Radev also weighed into the debate, congratulating Staneva on her “fighting spirit”.

“She had the courage to fight not only for victory... but also to defend normality and the Olympic principles in sport,” he wrote on Facebook.

The fight took place as the recriminations grew louder around the IOC, which was facing questions over a letter from the International Boxing Association warning them last year that Khelif had XY chromosomes.

Lin, 28, beat Staneva by unanimous decision in a scrappy fight that at times threatened to boil over with the Bulgarian regularly complaining about Lin’s use of elbows.

“It’s a very uneasy step… Winning this match doesn’t mean I can relax,” Lin was said to have told Taiwanese TV. “I’ve received a lot of supportive messages. I haven’t read them because I shut down my social media. The entire population of Taiwan are supporting me so I am going to take that strength to hopefully go all the way to the end.”

Before the bout, the Bulgarian Boxing Federation said it “strongly opposed” Lin’s participation. Lin will face Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman in Wednesday’s semi-finals as the circus goes on.

Lin Yu-ting v Svetlana Staneva: As it happened . . .

10:42 AM BST

What next for Lin Yu-ting

In the absence of bronze medal bouts in Olympic boxing, Lin is guaranteed a bronze at minimum. She will face Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman on Wednesday 7th at 20.30, who beat fourth seed Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu of Brazil in the fight after Lin’s with Staneva.

A reminder that Imane Khelif fights the evening before at 21.34 - both fights take place in a repurposed Roland Garros.

10:28 AM BST

Amicable post-match

Given the knife-edge upon which Lin and Khelif’s presences have sat throughout this tournament, it’s difficult to immediately tell how friendly the fighters are with each other. Before Khelif’s first fight, a former opponent and an Australian counterpart both condemned her eligibility.

Anna Luca Hamori, after fuelling the flames on social media before the fight, was immediate and purposeful in her embracing of Khelif post-bout.

Staneva initially ignored Lin post-fight, but it seems that was more out of frustration - she has just missed out on an Olympic medal aged 33 - Lin’s counter-attacking game plan clearly grated the Hungarian through the fight. Once the referee had announced the decision, Staneva opened the rope to allow Lin to leave - a known mark of respect in the boxing world.

10:18 AM BST

“Never in doubt”

10:16 AM BST

Yu-Ting wins unanimously

As expected, Yu-Ting wins unanimously, and after the initial frustration of clearly losing, Staneva shows her respect by opening the ropes for Yu-Ting’s departure from the ring. The two shake hands and the affair is all quite inconspicuous.

10:15 AM BST

Round 3 - Yu-Ting initially ignored

Staneva needed something substantial that round to overturn two split decision losses but couldn’t find it. They’re the same height but Yu-Ting’s superior reach is telling, as with her last fight.

Yu-Ting goes for an embrace post fight but is ignored. Staneva showed frustration through the round, asking Yu-Ting to come forward - her defensive style has frustrated both of her opponents this tournament.

10:13 AM BST

Messy Round 2 - Yu-Ting wins

Yu-Ting wins round so holds a big advantage amidst a messy round. There are two ugly grapples, one that fells Yu-Ting. Staneva in the blue is bizarrely wearing yellow trainers rather than boxing shoes.

10:11 AM BST

A contrast to Khelif’s fight

10:08 AM BST

Yu-Ting wins first round

A very even first round at first glance, and it’s reflected on the 3-2 split on the judges’ scorecards, Yu-Ting coming through ahead. Staneva is looking to box on the front foot, though, something Turdibekova neglected during Yu-Ting’s previous fight

10:03 AM BST

Fighters in the ring

Both fighters are in the ring, touch gloves, and we’re under way.

10:02 AM BST

IOC weigh in

Following Yu-Ting’s first fight on Friday, the IOC gave a statement in the evening, President Thomas Bach, accompanied by IOC spokesman Mark Adams, defending their decision to allow Yu-Ting and Khelif to fight. Bach misspoke during the speech, saying “this is not a DSD case”.

Bach actually meant “this is not a transgender case” - an error rectified immediately after the speech. Yu-Ting and Khelif are DSD - differences of sexual development - athletes, owing to the the presence of XY chromosomes in their DNA. Whilst this was initially a point of misunderstanding amidst the scandal, opposition to their eligibility has not slowed down despite the IOC’s clarification of the case.

09:57 AM BST

Lin Yu-Ting’s first fight

Lin Yu-Ting won her first fight unanimously against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibova. The Taiwanese fighter is the number one seed in the women’s featherweight (57kg) division, boasting a record of 41 wins and 14 losses, but is perhaps the lesser profiled of the two boxers to have failed gender tests given her reduced fire power - just one of those wins was a knock out.

Her opponent Staneva has a record of 58-16, and has won her last eight fights. Unlike Hamori before her fight with Khelif yesterday, she has avoided addressing the issue in the press, as has Yu-Ting. Khelif hasn’t spoken much herself yesterday, but amidst the furore was very emotional yesterday, so it will be interesting to see how Yu-Ting reacts regardless of today’s result.

09:55 AM BST

Gender-row boxing controversy continues

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the women’s featherweight quarterfinal between Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting and Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva, with an Olympic medal up for grabs and a scandal embroiling the build up.

Yu-Ting is one of two fighters, the other being Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who are banned from International Boxing Association competition for having failed a gender test that reveals the presence of XY chromosomes in their DNA, but are allowed to fight in the IOC governed Olympic boxing event. For many, awareness of this controversy dates back either to the IOC confirming the two are eligible to fight in the build up to the event, or to Khelif’s shocking 46-second victory in her first round bout against Angela Carini.

For Staneva, the history is longer. Yu-Ting and Khelif were disqualified from the IBA in March 2023, Khelif prevented from her imminent gold medal fight, Yu-Ting stripped of the bronze that she had just won, with the medal instead given to the opponent she had beaten in the bronze medal match, Staneva.

Relative to Khelif’s brutal victory vs Carini, in which one clean punch to the jaw inclined her to abandon the fight, saying she was struggling to breathe having never been hit so hard, Yu-Ting’s first fight was a less eventful affair. She dominated her opponent, winning by unanimous decision and falling behind on a judges scorecard just once, but Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova left the ring in tears, refusing to shake hands with her opponent.

In Khelif’s win yesterday, which guaranteed her Algeria’s first medal of the Games, over 600 Algerians cheered her on vociferously in the crowd, booing her opponent Anna Luca Hamori. Hamori had contributed to the controversy leading up to the fight, reposting incendiary images that depicted Khelif as a beast, but Khelif unquestionably dominated the fight, and the two were amicable after the fight and in their press conferences, shaking hands three times as Hamori went on to wish Khelif luck going forward - something Carini has done after her initial provocative statements straight after the fight.

Khelif’s statements were brief, declaring “I am a woman” initially, before thanking the IOC for their support. Given the vitriolic and enduring nature of the criticism of Khelif and Yu-Ting’s participation, and the high profile of some critics inside and out of the boxing world, the IOC were inclined to give a statement, president Thomas Bach defending their decision in an erroneous speech. The IBA, meanwhile, has also defended their expulsion of Yu-Ting and Khelif.

Today, then, Yu-Ting and Khelif rekindle their rivalry, and the biggest scandal of the Paris 2024 Games continues without any suggestion that the considerable and growing polarisation over the issue will subside, or prevent Yu-Ting and Khelif from fighting.