The French women’s team have been barred from the Boxing World Championships in Liverpool because they missed the deadline for sharing gender test results.
World Boxing, the international governing body for amateur boxing, said last month that women wanting to compete in the event, which started on Thursday, would have to undergo mandatory genetic sex testing under its new policy.
Those tests are banned in France so the French boxing federation (FFBoxe) sent the five-member team to a lab in Leeds on Monday to take them.
However, the French federation said on Thursday that the lab would be unable to provide the results in time for its fighters to be eligible for the championships, which take place from 4-14 September in north west England.
“It is with stupefaction and indignation that the French team learned on Wednesday evening the French women’s boxing team would not be able to compete in the first World Championships organised by World Boxing,” it said.
“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.”
BBC Sport has been told that France is not the only federation impacted and that 12 fighters in total have been barred – all five French fighters, plus others from Nigeria, Fiji, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic.
World Boxing said that the fault lies with the boxing federations.
“Since World Boxing first announced its intention to introduce mandatory sex testing to determine the chromosomal sex of a male or female at birth, the organisation has made it clear that testing will 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,” World Boxing said.
“They also oversee the entry process for boxers so know which boxers need to be tested and when.
“It is very disappointing for the boxers that some national federations have not been able to complete this process in time, which means that some athletes have not made it through the sports entry process for the World Boxing Championships.”
