- Aussie claimed bronze in the Commonwealth Games
- Has advanced through to the round of 16 in Paris
- Is on a collision course with controversial Taiwan boxer
Australia’s first Muslim female boxer Tina Rahimi once said ‘no one should be excluded’ for the sport – and now on a collision course with controversial Taiwan fighter Lin Hu-ting at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Imane Khelif from Algeria and Yu-ting were disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Championships after International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev announced DNA tests revealed they had XY chromosomes.
According to his statement, the fighters are not transgender, but were born with DNA that contains male chromosomes.
The IBA stated that the decision was made to preserve the fairness and integrity of the competition.
However, the IBA is not responsible for running the Olympic boxing events in Paris.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has defended its decision to allow the two boxers to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests at the 2023 tournament.
Tina Rahimi is Australia’s first ever Muslim women’s boxer to compete at the Olympic Games – and she is in line to have a very controversial fight
If the Aussie keeps winning, she could take on Lin Hu-ting (pictured) who was previously banned from the ring for failing a gender test
The IOC confirmed that both fighters – who were born female and do not identify as trans or intersex – could compete under gender eligibility rules that were applied during the Tokyo Games in 2021.
That debate came to a head overnight with Khelif destroyed Italian boxer Angela Carini in just 46 seconds, leaving her in tears and nursing a broken nose.
Now Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner and Pacific champion Rahimi is set to take on Hu-ting in the semi-finals of the featherweight division if they both keep advancing.
Hu-ting will fight Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova tonight while Rahimi will take on Poland’s Julia Szeremeta with both vying for a place in the quarterfinals.
Imane Khelif from Algeria has been under the spotlight after demolishing Italian fighter Angela Carini in just 46 seconds. Khelif was banned from the same tournament as Lin, and for the same reasons
Carini was left in tears after the match and nursing a suspected broken nose from the heavy hits that she sustained in her bout against Khelif
Rahimi and Hu-Ting are on opposite ends of the draw and would clash 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 coverings for her arms and legs.
Earlier in the tournament, she said all women should have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels of the sport.
‘No matter how you look or dress, what your ethnicity is or what religion you follow,’ Rahimi said on Instagram.
‘We all come together to achieve that one dream. To compete and to win. No one should be excluded. Discrimination is not welcome in sport, specifically in the Olympics and what it stands for.’
Rahimi is a professional make-up artist and took up the sport of boxing as a way of keeping fit
Rahimi is different to most amateur fighters because she never dreamed of becoming an Olympian, she just wanted to take up the sport for fitness.
However, claiming bronze at the Commonwealth Games stoked her competitive fire and she wants to prove how far she can go at the highest level in Paris.
‘My Olympic dream is not similar to most people. I never grew [up] dreaming about being an Olympian. I never even watched an Olympic games until Tokyo 2020,’ she revealed on Instagram.
‘It was only after the 2022 Commonwealth Games that a goal sparked within me to qualify for the Olympics. I lost in the semi finals and secured myself a bronze medal and I knew I wasn’t done just yet. ‘
