Boxer Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan secured her first Olympic medal on Sunday at the Paris Games, with the audience chanting her name in Villepinte, France. She won a women’s 57-kilogram quarterfinal against Svetlana Kamenova Staneva from Bulgaria, achieving her second consecutive unanimous decision victory. This win propels her to the division’s semifinals, guaranteeing her a minimum of a bronze medal.
Lin’s victory follows fellow boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria, who also secured an Olympic medal amid online abuse and scrutiny over their participation. Lin and Khelif have been embroiled in controversy surrounding gender identity and sports regulations, particularly after their disqualification from the previous year’s world championships due to failing unspecified eligibility tests for women’s competition as reported by the banned International Boxing Association.
In her first fight at the Games, Lin triumphed over Sitora Turdibekova from Uzbekistan with a score of 5:0. As the quarterfinal bouts unfolded in the women’s 57-kg category on Sunday, two more matches were set to determine the semifinal matchups in the division.