Controversial Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting took up the sport to protect her mother from domestic violence, MailOnline can reveal.
The two-time world boxing champion is preparing to step into the ring to fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on Friday.
The matchup between Lin, 28, and Turdibekova, 22, has sparked controversy after Lin failed a gender eligibility test at last year’s World Championships.
Lin, who came into the Olympics as the top seed, lost her bronze medal after failing to meet unspecified eligibility criteria from the International Boxing Association.
All eyes are now on Lin’s fight with Turdibekova, after yesterday’s dramatic fight in which Carini retired in less than a minute and Khelif landed just one punch.
In an interview with Liberty in 2013, two-time world champion Yu-Ting was just 17 when she made the shocking revelation.
Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting was banned, along with Imane Khelif, from last year’s world boxing championships in New Delhi.
Her coach Zeng Ziqiang said Yu-Ting learned boxing because she felt sorry for her mother, who was repeatedly beaten by her father. Pictured: Yu-Ting and her mother
The boxer, who like Algeria’s Imane Khelif is involved in a gender dispute at the Olympics, is scheduled to fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in the 57kg featherweight category this afternoon.
Lin will participate in the boxing competition as the Asian Games champion and number one fighter.
The boxer, who like Algeria’s Imane Khelif is involved in a gender dispute at the Olympics, is scheduled to fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in the 57kg featherweight category this afternoon.
In the interview with Liberty Times uncovered by MailOnline, she said: ‘Learning boxing is to protect my mother.’
She spoke out after winning the gold medal at the World Junior Women’s Boxing Championships, but was born into a family of domestic violence.
Her coach Zeng Ziqiang said Yu-Ting learned boxing because she felt sorry for her mother, who had been repeatedly beaten by her father.
Following her success, she received a NT$40,000 education scholarship and then gave the future prize money to her mother to support her family after her father abandoned them at their home in New Taipei City.
He also revealed how he was inspired to start boxing after watching cartoons, his favorite being The First Divine Fist, a popular animated series in Taiwan.
It tells the story of a boy who suffers from bullying at school and then meets a famous fighter named Mamoru Takamura, who teaches him how to box and become a champion.
Yu-Ting said watching manga cartoons made her “interested in boxing,” although she initially had to overcome opposition from her mother, who worried it would interfere with her studies.
After competing in the Asian Boxing Championships and winning gold in 2017 and 2019, she competed in her first Olympic Games in 2021 in Tokyo, where she lost in the round of 16.
She is also a two-time world champion but was disqualified from the women’s competition in New Delhi last year after failing to meet the International Boxing Association’s gender eligibility criteria.
His hero is the legendary Ukrainian boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic champion.
Lin Yu-ting (pictured), who like Khelif was disqualified from the Women’s World Championships last year, will step into the ring on Friday in the featherweight division.
His hero is the legendary Ukrainian boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko, two-time Olympic champion and three-time world heavyweight champion.
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On Friday, Taiwan’s presidential office and the former president expressed their support.
Tsai Ing-Wen, the country’s first female president who served for eight years from 2016 to 2024, said: “Let’s cheer together for Lin Yu-Ting,” adding that a victory would be an honour for Taiwan.
He added that Yu-Ting was “not afraid to face challenges, whether they came from inside or outside the ring.”
Meanwhile, Pan Men-an, the Secretary-General of Taiwan’s Presidential Office, wrote on Facebook that it was wrong that she had been “subjected to humiliation, insults and verbal intimidation just because of her appearance and a controversial verdict in the past.”
