Paris France.- Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the 57kg category at Paris 2024, meaning the two boxers embroiled in a gender controversy at the Games will compete for Olympic gold.
Lin defeated Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman by unanimous decision on the ring set up at Roland Garros, the iconic Parisian tennis stadium, where her victory was greeted with applause by thousands of spectators.
Algerian Imane Khelif, the other boxer involved in the controversy for failing a gender test last year, was also already qualified for the 66kg final.
The lanky Lin, five centimetres taller than her opponent, dominated the fight from the start with just one slip in the first round, when she stumbled and briefly fell to the canvas.
Kahraman, encouraged by a group of Turkish fans in the stands, was forced to take risks to make up ground on the scoreboard and Lin knew how to take advantage of it.
The boxer from Chinese Taipei kept her opponent’s fists at a distance and ended up clearly winning on the scorecards of all five judges.
Lin will thus compete on Saturday for her first Olympic title three years after missing out on the podium at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Her last opponent will be the Polish Julia Szeremeta, 20 years old, who won the other semi-final by split decision (4-1) against the Filipino Nesthy Petecio, silver medallist in the Japanese capital.
MAKES GESTURE WITH THE “X”
Following the result, Esra Yildiz Kahraman replicated what Bulgarian Svetlana Staneva did at the end of her quarter-final match against Yu-ting, making the “X” sign in protest.
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