Lin Yu-ting wins Asian Games boxing gold after eligibility controversy

Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting won gold in the women’s 60-kilogram category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, two years after a dispute over her eligibility to compete in the women’s category at the Paris Olympics.

Lin defeated China’s Yang Chengyu by a unanimous 5-0 decision at Nishio Gymnasium to secure her second Asian Games gold medal.

Eligibility dispute at the Paris Olympics

Lin and Algeria’s Imane Khelif both won gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics amid questions about their eligibility to compete in the women’s category.

The International Boxing Association disqualified both boxers from the 2023 world championships, saying they had failed eligibility tests. The International Olympic Committee, which oversaw boxing at the Paris Games after withdrawing recognition from the association, allowed them to compete.

The committee described the 2023 disqualifications as “sudden and arbitrary.”

World Boxing policy

World Boxing, the governing body for Olympic-level boxing, introduced a new eligibility policy in 2025 requiring mandatory sex testing for athletes competing in its female category.

Lin was cleared to compete in the female category earlier this year after the Chinese Taipei Boxing Association appealed under World Boxing’s policy.