[Source: Reuters]

Imane Khelif, the boxer at the centre of a gender dispute, beat Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng by unanimous decision in a welterweight semi-final fight at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday to progress to the women’s final at Roland Garros.

Khelif, a silver medallist at the 2022 worlds, and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting have been in the spotlight at the Olympics as part of a storm that has dominated headlines and been the subject of much discussion on social media platforms.

“I don’t want anything to be said about the controversy,” Khelif said after her win.

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.

At those World Championships, Khelif beat Suwannapheng by unanimous decision in the semi-finals before being disqualified. Suwannapheng competed in the final after Khelif’s disqualification and won silver.

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.