SRY rule shadows Liverpool Boxing Championships, Khelif appeals CAS

The inaugural World Boxing Championships opened in Liverpool on Thursday under the new governing body World Boxing, but the tournament has been overshadowed by a contentious new gender eligibility rule that has sidelined several athletes and prompted a legal challenge from Olympic champion Imane Khelif. The fortnight event at the MS Bank Arena, featuring roughly 500 to 540 boxers from more than 60 nations, opened amid protests after World Boxing required genetic certification of chromosomal sex for all female entrants over 18, and several athletes and an entire national delegation failed to make the entry deadline.

World Boxing last month specified that a PCR test detecting the SRY gene, the marker of male chromosomal material, must be supplied by national federations to certify female competitors as XX. Those who test positive for XY material or androgenized DSD conditions are barred from the womens division, the body said, with president Boris van der Vorst defending the rule as necessary for safety and fairness in a combat sport. In a separate statement World Boxing said national federations were responsible for arranging tests and that it was disappointing some had not...