NAGOYA, Japan — Taiwan boxer Lin Yu-ting, the Olympic champion who found herself embroiled in a major gender row at Paris 2024, won gold at the Asian Games on Wednesday.
Lin beat China’s Yang Chengyu 5-0 in the women’s 60-kg final in Nagoya, giving her a second Asian Games gold after winning in the 57-kg class in Hangzhou three years ago.
The 30-year-old was backed by a small pocket of vocal Taiwanese supporters in the cosy Nishio Gymnasium.
Towering over her opponent, Lin used her superior reach to take control of the bout and had a clear advantage heading into the third and final round.
She held off a late assault from Yang to take gold, celebrating with the minimum of fuss.
Lin told AFP before the Games that she had considered retiring after the Paris Olympics but wanted to carry on fighting in part to defy those who questioned her eligibility.
Lin and Imane Khelif of Algeria were disqualified from the 2023 world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after the organization said they failed unspecified gender eligibility tests.
However, the IOC allowed them to compete in Paris, saying they were victims of “a sudden and arbitrary decision” by the widely discredited IBA. Both went on to win gold.
Lin triumphed at 57 kg in the French capital but has stepped up a weight division for the Asian Games in Japan.
China’s Olympic champion Wu Yu also won gold, defending her Asian Games title in the 51-kg class.
Wu beat Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Tam, 5-0.
Chinese judoka accused of biting
Japanese judo officials said they had never seen anything like it after eventual champion Rin Maeda appeared to be bitten by her Chinese opponent at the Asian Games.
Maeda was awarded victory in the quarter-final bout in Nagoya when Tang Jing was disqualified just over a minute into the contest.
Tang appeared to bite Maeda just above the wrist while the pair were clinched on the ground, with Maeda showing the referee visible teeth marks after getting up from the mat.
Judges reviewed the footage and Tang was disqualified.
Japan women’s judo coach Maki Tsukada told sports website The Digest that it was a first for her in her long career in the sport.
“At tournaments like the Asian Games there have been incidents in the past where someone gets punched in the face or their eye swells up,” she said following Thursday’s incident in their -70-kg class bout.
“I regret that we hadn’t anticipated that something like this might happen.”
Tsukada said the bite marks were visible despite Maeda wearing protective tape on that part of her arm.
“It was to the point where we thought she might actually start bleeding, but it didn’t go as far as needing disinfection or anything like that,” said Tsukada.
“Still, the teeth marks were clearly and firmly there.”
Maeda went on to win gold, beating Kazakhstan’s Azhar Askhat in the final.
“I entered this tournament with a strong determination to win gold,” said the 21-year-old.
“Preparing for a multi-sport event like this was a unique experience, but I was able to prepare properly each day and deliver my best performance.”
