Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif Withdraws from Women’s Eindhoven Tournament After Mandatory Sex Testing Policy Announced

The Algerian boxer who has caused significant controversy after taking home an Olympic gold medal in the women’s category last summer has now decided to exit a women’s tournament following the implementation of a new sex testing policy. Imane Khelif had previously been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from competing against women, when, in 2023, a genetic test revealed that Khelif has a male karyotype.

In May, Khelif had been announced as a participant in the upcoming Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands, set to take place between June 5 – 10. According to a celebratory announcement from the Eindhoven event officials, now deleted from the organization’s social media, Khelif intended to defend his previous win at the 2024 iteration of the event.

However, on May 30 the sport authority World Boxing announced a new policy that would require mandatory sex testing for all boxers, in order to “ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women.”

World Boxing clarified in their statement that the new regulation was implemented in direct response to Khelif’s highly controversial bouts at the Paris Olympics – which saw multiple female athletes protest against his participation and generated international outcry.

“In light of plans to introduce this policy and the particular circumstances surrounding some boxers that competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing,” read the authority’s statement.

It continues: “World Boxing’s new polcy and the introducition of testing will mean that all athletes over the age of 18 that want to participate in a World Boxing owned or sanctioned competition will need to undergo a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) genetic test to determine their sex at birth and their eligibility to compete.”

The letter sent by World Boxing to the Algerian Boxing Federation on 30 May 2025 specifically cautioned that Khelif would not be allowed to register for the Eindhoven Cup until he had demonstrated XX chromosomes via a genetic test.

“Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup, 5-10 June 2025 and any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes genetic sex screening in accordance with World Boxing’s rules and testing procedures.”

However, within days of publication, World Boxing bowed to pressure and apologized to the Algerian Boxing Federation for having named Khelif in both their statement and letter. “The president of World Boxing does not think it was correct to have a named a specific athlete in a statement issued last Friday,” the body said.

World Boxing stated that the authority “has written personally to the president of the Algerian Boxing Federation to offer a formal and sincere apology which acknowledges that greater effort should have been made to avoid linking the policy to any individual.”

Multiple international news outlets report that Khelif has failed to complete the registration process by the deadline for the Eindhoven Cup, effectively unofficially withdrawing from the match due to a refusal to undergo the sex test, which would have been conducted via a simple cheek swab. Despite the fact that he will not enter the tournament, social media for the Eindhoven Box Cup has been posting articles supportive of Khelif as the news of his absence there breaks.

Spokesperson for the Box Cup in Eindhoven, Dirk Renders, announced Khelif’s withdrawal to Dutch media while referring to him with feminine pronouns and emphasizing that this was not the decision of the organization. “She officially missed the deadline for registration for the tournament. Imane’s decision not to participate was not made by us. We are very sorry.”

The Mayor of Eindhoven, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, expressed his opposition to the new sex screening policy by way of a letter to the World Boxing association. “All athletes are welcome in Eindhoven. Exclusion of athletes based on controversial ‘gender tests’ certainly does not fit in. We let our disapproval of this decision today and call on the organization to allow Imane Khelif to be admitted,” Dijsselbloem said.

The continued championing of Khelif by Eindhoven, even after the boxer had withdrawn from the tournament, is made more bizarre in light of recently leaked documents which demonstrate that the Olympic medalist had definitively tested as male in 2023.

Following the results of a blood test which confirmed that Khelif has a “male karyotype,” he was disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships, which took place in March of 2023 and was hosted in New Delhi, India. Upon receiving the results of the tests, Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), announced the disqualification of both Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu Ting, who was also awarded a gold medal in the women’s category at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Just days ago, Olympic press committee member Alan Abrahamson leaked the results of Khelif’s 2023 genetic test, prompting fresh outcry over his participation and win at the Olympic Games. Khelif was cleared to compete in Paris by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which stripped the IBA of its status as boxing’s world governing body in June 2023, shortly after its decision to disqualify Khelif and Lin.

Responding to the recent controversy as it unfolded this week, acclaimed author JK Rowling highlighted the response from the Algerian Boxing Federation. The national sporting body argued that World Boxing’s decision to name Khelif when announcing its new sex screening policy had caused “immeasurable … consequences” to the male boxer. The Federation President added that World Boxing had internationally harmed “our national sports movement” and that Khelif was not given “the right to defend herself,” and that World Boxing had neglected to “hear from the doctors specialising in endocrinology who follow her.”

Hitting back, Rowling, who has consistently criticized Khelif’s participation in women’s boxing since the Paris Olympics, emphasized the “psychological damage done to the young women [Khelif] punched.”

The psychological damage done to the young women he punched, while the entire world watched and the sporting establishment jeered, shamed and gaslit them, is naturally of no importance whatsoever. pic.twitter.com/ltruu79EsG

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 5, 2025

The boxing bouts that saw both Khelif and Lin brutally punching women last summer at the Paris Olympics generated significant criticism, but also tremendous pushback from individuals and organizations that defended the two male boxers.

Khelif’s first bout against Italian boxer Angela Carini ended swiftly – in just 46 seconds – when she voluntarily withdrew after sustaining a blow to her face. To the surprise of the commentators, Carini could be shouting angrily, “Non è giusto!,” or, “It’s not fair,” referring to Khelif’s participation in the female category, before falling to her knees and weeping on live television.

In December 2022, Khelif beat Mexican female boxer Brianda Tamara so severely that she later expressed shock that she had escaped without sustaining more permanent injuries.

“When I fought with her, I felt very out of my depth; her blows hurt me a lot,” Tamara wrote on X after Khelif’s disqualification in March 2023. “I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.”

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Author: Genevieve Gluck

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