- Australia won bronze at the Commonwealth Games
- He has advanced to the round of 16 in Paris
- He is about to collide with the controversial Taiwanese boxer
Australia’s first Muslim female boxer Tina Rahimi once said “no one should be excluded” from the sport, and now she faces controversial Taiwanese boxer Lin Hu-ting at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Yu-ting have been disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Championships after International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev announced that DNA tests revealed they had XY chromosomes.
According to their statement, the fighters are not transgender, but were born with DNA containing male chromosomes.
The IBA said the decision was taken to preserve the fairness and integrity of the competition.
However, the IBA is not responsible for organising the Olympic boxing events in Paris.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has defended its decision to allow both boxers to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests at the 2023 tournament.
Tina Rahimi is the first Australian Muslim boxer to compete at the Olympics and is set to have a highly controversial fight.
If the Australian goes on to win, she could face Lin Hu-ting (pictured), who was previously banned from the ring for failing a gender test.
The IOC confirmed that both wrestlers, who were born female and do not identify as trans or intersex, would be able to compete under the gender eligibility rules that applied during the Tokyo Games in 2021.
That debate came to a head overnight when Khelif destroyed Italian boxer Angela Carini in just 46 seconds, leaving her in tears and with a broken nose.
Now Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and Pacific champion Rahimi will face Hu-ting in the semi-finals of the featherweight division if both advance.
Hu-ting will fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova tonight, while Rahimi will face Poland’s Julia Szeremeta, both of whom will compete for a place in the quarter-finals.
Algerian Imane Khelif has been in the spotlight after demolishing Italian Angela Carini in just 46 seconds. Khelif was expelled from the same tournament as Lin and for the same reasons.
Carini was left in tears after the match and recovering from an alleged broken nose from the heavy blows he received in his fight against Khelif.
Rahimi and Hu-Ting are at opposite ends of the draw and would meet in the semi-finals if both advance.
Tahimi is a proud Muslim woman who wears a hijab in the ring, along with professional makeup and arm and leg protectors.
At the start of the tournament, she said that all women should have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels of the sport.
“It doesn’t matter how you look or dress, what your ethnicity is or what religion you follow,” Rahimi said on Instagram.
“We all came together to achieve that dream: to compete and win. No one should be left out. Discrimination is not welcome in sport, especially at the Olympic Games and what it represents.”
Rahimi is a professional makeup artist and started boxing as a way to stay fit.
Rahimi is different from most amateur wrestlers because she never dreamed of becoming an Olympian, she just wanted to play the sport to stay fit.
However, winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games has rekindled her competitive spirit and she wants to prove how far she can go at the highest level in Paris.
“My Olympic dream is not like most people’s. I never grew up dreaming of being an Olympian. I never saw the Olympics until Tokyo 2020,” she revealed on Instagram.
“It was only after the 2022 Commonwealth Games that I felt the desire to qualify for the Olympics. I lost in the semi-finals and earned a bronze medal, but I knew I wasn’t done yet.”