Algeria's Khelif wins women's welterweight gold

Algeria’s Imane Khelif beat China’s Yang Liu to claim the gold medal in the women’s welterweight boxing at the Olympics today, Reuters reports.

Khelif, a silver medallist at the 2022 world championships, and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting have been in the spotlight at the Paris Games amid a gender dispute that has dominated headlines.

Khelif and Lin were disqualified by the International Boxing Association from the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi, with the body saying in a shambolic press conference on Monday that a sex chromosome test had ruled both of them ineligible.

Khelif and Lin are competing in the Olympics after the International Olympic Committee stripped the IBA of its status as the sport’s governing body in 2023 and took control of organising the boxing in Paris.

The IOC has rejected the results of the IBA-ordered tests as arbitrary and illegitimate, saying there was no reason to conduct them.

At these Games, the IOC is using boxing eligibility rules that were applied at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics which do not include gender testing.

Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand and Taiwan’s Chen Nien-chin were awarded bronze.

This is the 25-year-old’s first Olympic medal and Algeria’s first gold in boxing.

READ: Olympic outrage: Paris ceremony sparks global backlash

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