Chris Evert joins Martina Navratilova in criticizing male boxers’ participation in women’s boxing at Paris Olympic

Evert has said that male boxers competing in women's events can be dangerous.

Chris Evert joins Martina Navratilova in criticizing male boxers’ participation in women’s boxing at Paris Olympic

Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova (Images via Imago)

Chris Evert has echoed her former colleague Martina Navratilova‘s sentiments in criticizing the rules allowing male boxers to compete in the women’s category at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Navratilova had attacked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing Algeria’s Imane Khelif to compete in the women’s category.

Evert agreed with her former World No. 1 and said that she does not agree with male boxers being allowed to compete in women’s events. She responded to a social media post that talked about the Australian boxing team captain, Caitlin Parker, voicing her concerns about this decision.

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Parker competes in the 75kg weight division and has reached the quarterfinals already. She said that she was worried about her teammate who will be facing Khelif in the 66kg weight division. The Australian feard that it can be dangerous apart from being unfair.

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Me neither…..
Chris Evert said in response to Caitlian Parker’s comments

Navratilova has previously expressed her concerns about the IOC’s decision to allow Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting to compete in women’s events despite there being evidence of them not being eligible to do so.

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Why are Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova against Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting competing as women boxers at 2024 Paris Olympics?

Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova‘s criticism of the IOC for allowing Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting to compete in the women’s category is based on evidence that the two athletes are ineligible to compete in this category.

Imane-Khelif-of-Algeria
Imane Khelif, Algerian boxer (Image via ObservAlgerie)

While Khelif was disqualified by the International Boxing Association last year over high testosterone levels before a gold medal bout at the women’s world championships, Taiwan’s double-world champion featherweight Lin, scheduled to fight on behalf of Chinese Taipei this Friday, also lost a bronze medal in New Delhi over a “biochemical test for gender eligibility”.

However, Mark Adams, IOC’s Chief Spokesperson, has instead expressed concerns over a “witchhunt” against the two athletes. The IOC has defended themselves by stating that the two boxers are women on their passports and their inclusion has been approved.

All athletes participating in the Boxing Tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations, in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU) ‘Event Regulations of the Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournaments and the boxing competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024’.
The IOC said in a statement (H/T: The Telegraph)

It remains to be seen if the IOC will review the issue after the captain of the Australian boxing team raised concerns of fear.

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