November 3, 2025

World Boxing Excludes France Over Missing Sex Verification Tests

World Boxing, the sport’s global governing body, expelled the French women’s boxing team from the World Championship in Liverpool because the French federation did not submit the required gender tests in time. The World Championship began on Thursday in the English city. The French boxers Romane Moulai (up to 48 kg), Wassila Lkhadiri (up to 51 kg), Melissa Bounoua (up to 54 kg), Sthélyne Grosy (up to 57 kg), and Maëlys Richol (up to 65 kg) had arrived in Liverpool, but were informed of their disqualification on-site.
The background: In the wake of a trans-issue controversy in boxing, the newly IOC-recognized world federation had demanded gender verification tests ahead of the World Championship. This move led to Olympic champion Imane Khelif, who opposed the tests, being barred from competing. The Algerian athlete has since filed a case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against her exclusion (TheColu.mn reported).

Lin Yu-Ting also out

Olympic champion Lin Yu-Ting, who, like Khelif, faced allegations of being a man, will also not participate in the World Championship. Her Taiwanese federation said she had indeed undergone a test and forwarded the result, but World Boxing had not provided any confirmation. Therefore, she could not be allowed to travel to Britain “without any guarantee.”

The French athletes are prevented from competing for legal reasons: in France, tests of gender, as World Boxing demands, have been legally permissible only in a handful of exceptional cases since 1994. The French federation arranged the tests after arriving in the United Kingdom, but the analyzing laboratory took too long—resulting in all athletes’ disqualification. “Despite the guarantees World Boxing had given us, the laboratory they recommended was not able to deliver the results in time,” the French federation said in a statement.

France’s boxing federation and Sports Minister Marie Barsacq harshly criticized World Boxing. The incident was described as a “deep injustice,” since the athletes were sanctioned for a bureaucratic failure and for a rule change announced far too late. The federation added in a press release: “The French women’s boxing team was unjustly robbed of the world championship title!”

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World Boxing, for its part, rejects the blame. The test, it stated, lies in the responsibility of national federations, and federations had already been informed of this months ago. (This article has been adapted for clarity and readability.)
Marcy Ellerton
Marcy Ellerton
My name is Marcy Ellerton, and I’ve been telling stories since I could hold a pen. As a queer journalist based in Minneapolis, I cover everything from grassroots activism to the everyday moments that make our community shine. When I’m not chasing a story, you’ll probably find me in a coffee shop, scribbling notes in a well-worn notebook and eavesdropping just enough to catch the next lead.