Boxing World Championship in Liverpool began on Thursday, but it seems to be a championship without French women. Last month, the international boxing federation World Boxing introduced requirements for gender tests before the World Championship.
The five boxers in the French women's team were supposed to have undergone the tests – but the answers did not arrive on time and now they are being stopped from participating, the French boxing federation announces.
We regret that a number of boxers did not meet the deadline for the test results, says a person in charge at World Boxing to AFP.
The French federation (FFBoxe) is not happy about the message.
”It was with surprise and irritation that the French national team on Wednesday evening was informed that France's women's boxing team would not be given the opportunity to participate in the first World Championship organized by World Boxing”, says FFBoxe in a statement.
They mean that the laboratory where the tests were performed was chosen based on the international federation's recommendation.
”Despite guarantees from World Boxing, the laboratory they recommended was unable to deliver the results on time”.
International boxing has had enormous problems in recent years. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has cut all ties with the former main federation Iba, which has been accused of corruption. Earlier this year, the IOC therefore gave the newly started federation World Boxing preliminary mandate to organize the Olympic Games boxing 2028, as well as the qualifying competitions before the Games.
