Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) yesterday announced that she has accepted a Sports Administration invitation to be the nation’s anti-bullying ambassador and would also assume the post of an assistant professor at Chinese Culture University’s Department of Physical Education starting in the upcoming semester.
Lin, who won a gold medal, and other Taiwanese athletes who competed at the Paris Olympics returned to Taiwan yesterday morning.
Their EVA Airways Flight BR88 was accompanied by three F-16 jets, which also fired thermal bombs to salute the athletes.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
As an assistant professor at the university, Lin would be teaching “boxing” and “sports skill training” in the fall semester, said university president Wang Tzu-chi (王子奇), who greeted Lin upon her arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Lin would also begin pursuing a doctoral degree in sports next month, he said.
“We will fully support Lin in her pursuit for another gold at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028,” Wang said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Lin’s quest for the gold medal was one of the closely watched events at the Olympic Games, as the International Boxing Association (IBA) and multiple celebrities questioned her qualification after she was denied a bronze medal at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi last year for having failed a gender eligibility test.
Accusations and protests against Lin did not cease even after the International Olympics Committee on multiple occasions reiterated that Lin was qualified to compete.
The IBA in a news conference in Paris on Monday last week defended its decision to disqualify Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif in New Delhi, although it did not present any evidence to back its claim and added to the confusion.
Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva and Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman, whom Lin defeated before reaching the gold-medal bout, raised their hands to make an “X” gesture — an apparent reference to the “X” chromosome — after their losses.
Aside from J.K. Rowling and former world featherweight boxing champion Barry McGuigan, retired tennis player Martina Navratilova also weighed in on the controversy on Sunday, saying: “This is what happens when you let males compete against females.”
“And in boxing in particular you don’t need any technique, really because your punch is so much harder than anything coming at you. Despicable. And dangerous,” she wrote on social media.
Although the Sports Administration vowed to file a lawsuit against the IBA, Lin said that she has no intention to sue the IBA and others as she has proven herself by winning a gold medal.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said he had asked the Ministry of Education to grant Lin a Kuo Kuang medal and NT$900,000 from a Kuo Kuang scholarship fund that she was unable to obtain after her world championship bronze medal was revoked.
The IBA made the decision using inappropriate measures, and the medal and scholarship fund are to show the appreciation and recognition of Lin’s performances in international competition from the nation and Taiwanese, Cho said.
“We respect Lin Yu-ting’s decision not to take further legal action. She has proved to the world that she is a first-rate boxer who has a firm resolve and a tender heart. What a great victory,” he said.
In related news, Cho said that the Cabinet would soon make an announcement about the progress that has been made upgrading the Sports Administration to the Ministry of Physical Education and Sports Development, adding that that the government would speak with athletes to ensure that policies stipulated by the ministry would benefit them.
Taiwan moved clear of Mexico to be the only country at No. 2 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Baseball World Rankings. Meanwhile, draft bills to set up a ministry of sports were approved at a joint session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. After previously being tied with Mexico for second on 4,118 points, Taiwan moved clear on 5,498 points after they defeated Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 tournament on Sunday. Mexico (4,729) dropped to fourth, behind Venezuela (4,846), who finished fourth at the tournament. Taiwan narrowed the gap to first-placed Japan to 1,368 points from 1,638, WBSC
GLOBAL SUPPORT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the motion highlighted the improper exclusion of Taiwan from international discussion and cooperative mechanisms Taiwan yesterday thanked the British parliament for passing a motion stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, making it the latest body to reject China’s interpretation of the resolution. The House of Commons on Thursday debated the international status of Taiwan and unanimously passed a pro-Taiwan motion stating that the House “notes that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the political status of Taiwan or establish PRC [People’s Republic of China] sovereignty over Taiwan and is silent both on the status of Taiwan in the UN and on Taiwanese participation in UN agencies.” British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Parliamentary
HIGH ALERT: The armed forces are watching for a potential military drill by China in response to the president’s trip, with the air force yesterday conducting an exercise President William Lai (賴清德) is to make stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during his seven-day trip to the South Pacific, his first official visit since taking office in May, the Presidential Office said yesterday. Lai, accompanied by a delegation, is scheduled to depart for the South Pacific on a chartered flight at 4:30pm tomorrow, stopping first in Hawaii for a two-night layover before traveling to the Marshall Islands, an office official said. After wrapping up his visits to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, the president is to transit through Guam, spending a night there before flying to Palau,
‘IMPORTANCE OF PEACE’: President Lai was welcomed by AIT Managing Director Ingrid Larson, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and others President William Lai (賴清德) was feted with red carpets, garlands of flowers and “alohas” as he began his two-day stopover in Hawaii on Saturday, part of a Pacific tour. Looking relaxed in a Hawaiian shirt, Lai flitted around the US island state, visiting the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and native Hawaiian culture, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Lai was given the “red carpet treatment” on the tarmac of Honolulu’s international airport, his office said, adding that it was the first time a Taiwanese president had been given such
RSS