OLYMPICS/Taiwan threatens IBA with legal action over Lin Yu-ting claims (update)

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) has issued a letter to the International Boxing Association (IBA), warning it of potential legal action over its claims regarding the gender of Taiwanese female boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷).

In a statement Tuesday that brought up the letter, Taiwan's Sports Administration protested the IBA's "spread of misinformation" and said the CTOC had appointed a lawyer and reserved the right to take legal action.

The administration reiterated that Lin's eligibility to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a statement issued on Aug. 2.

The International Olympic Committee permanently banned the Russia-dominated IBA as the sport's governing body in 2023 because of questionable practices and a lack of transparency.

But the IBA and its president, Umar Kremlev of Russia, have continued to make allegations about the genders of Taiwan's Lin and Algerian Imane Khelif after disqualifying them at the 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships over opaque eligibility tests.

It held a bizarre press conference Monday to "address the situation with the two disqualified boxers," purportedly to clarify its decisions against Lin and Khelif in 2023.

The IBA refused, however, to provide any new details on the tests conducted or methodologies used to disqualify the two boxers.

IBA CEO Chris Roberts would only say that the "results of the chromosome tests demonstrated both boxers were ineligible," but he couldn't show any test results because the Algerian and Taiwanese Olympic committees had sent letters to the IBA asking them not to disclose information about the boxers at the news conference.

Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) said the CTOC's request on Sunday was that the IBA not reveal any personal medical data without the athlete's permission.

It is a matter of personal data protection, Cheng told CNA.

He said that the IOC must have read all testing reports for the competing athletes before approving the athlete's eligibility to compete in the Games. The IBA has no right to continue to meddle in the matter, he said.