A Nigerian boxer has said she is “heartbroken” to have been barred from the World Amateur Championships, after she reportedly missed the deadline to return a genetic sex test.
It was announced in May that women planning on competing at the tournament would have to undertake sex texting, but there have already been complications in Liverpool.
On Thursday (4 September), when the competition got under way, the French federation lamented a “profound injustice” as its athletes were banned from fighting. Their removal from the tournament was due to their samples not being processed by a laboratory in time, allegedly “despite guarantees” from World Boxing.
Now, a similar fate has befallen Blessing Oraekwe, one of three Nigerian boxers to be penalised and 12 fighters from five nations overall.
Oraekwe was set to compete in the 75kg division and said World Boxing should cover the financial costs of her team’s trip to Liverpool, where the tournament is being held.
“I feel so sad,” Oraekwe told the BBC. “It was heartbreaking for me, because my plan was to come here and dominate in the ring and take the gold for my country. I know how I worked so hard for this, and I know how hard it was for my country. The Nigerian boxing federation gathered money for me and the other boxers to be here.
“They brought the tests late,” Oraekwe alleged. “All I want to say is for World Boxing to compensate us, because we have spent a lot.”
World Boxing has hit back, saying it “made it clear that testing [would] be the responsibility of national federations, as they have the closest links and most access to their boxers and are best placed to manage the testing process”.
Furthermore, it said federations had been warned on 21 August that sex-test results can take 48 hours to be processed, and that completing a test after 1 September “would jeopardise your athlete’s entry into the official draw and competition”. Teams were also apparently urged to factor in their arrival date, if they needed testing once in the UK.
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However, representatives for Team Nigeria said Oraekwe and two of her teammates were tested in Leeds on Monday (1 September), right after arriving in the UK, and that their results were not delivered until Thursday evening. By then, they had already been barred from competing.
Team France’s boxers were also tested in Leeds on Monday, because the new sex tests in question are reportedly banned in France without a medical prescription.
The French federation said it discovered “with stupefaction and indignation” on Wednesday that its boxers would not be allowed to fight, because “despite guarantees given to us by World Boxing, the laboratory which they recommended to us was not up to the task of delivering the results on time. As a result, our athletes – as well as those from other countries – have been caught in this trap and excluded.”
French boxer Maelys Richol told the BBC: “When I came here, I didn’t think it would turn out like this. It’s been a year almost that we’ve been preparing for the World Championships. Learning that the day before, it’s not easy.”
Mike McAtee, acting secretary general of World Boxing, told the BBC: “We’re sympathetic, because we know every boxer gives their heart and soul every night in the gym. But boxing is a sport that you have to follow the rules [in]. One of the biggest things is to protect boxers from themselves, and make sure that we have health and safety.
“We gave plenty of notice, but again: we’re sympathetic to any boxer, coach, federation that prepared, and for whatever reason they weren’t able to participate. This is 100 per cent the right policy to make sure that we have athletes compete safely and competitively.
“From our standpoint, we can always learn. We’ll look at this afterwards, how we can be a better organisation – to make sure we’re able to support our members to be able to get testing if they’re not allowed in their country.”
The Independent has approached World Boxing for comment.
Last week, Algeria’s Imane Khelif appealed the introduction of the new genetic sex test.
Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were both disqualified from the 2023 World Amateur Championships – organised by the International Boxing Association – for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests. Both fighters went on to win gold at the 2024 Olympics, but neither is competing at this year’s World Championships.
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