Boxers who want to compete in the women’s division at next month’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool will need to undergo tests to determine their sex.
The international body, World Boxing, had already announced its plan to require competitors to undergo a polymerase chain reaction test or an equivalent genetic screening test to determine their sex at birth.
The rules will be implemented ahead of the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool in early September, the organisation announced on Wednesday.
The organisation’s tests identify the presence or absence of Y chromosome genetic material to indicate biological sex.
All boxers, including Algeria’s Imane Khelif, 26, who won Olympic welterweight gold in Paris 2024 in the female category, will be unable to compete in their events until they undergo the test.
Khelif’s disputed failed gender eligibility test – conducted by a different boxing body – was a major issue at the Olympics before she won gold.
She has repeatedly said she was born a woman, and she has competed at all levels of women’s amateur boxing for nearly a decade.
“World Boxing respects the dignity of all individuals and is keen to ensure it is as inclusive as possible,” World Boxing president Boris Van Der Vorst said.
“Yet in a combat sport like boxing, we have a duty of care to deliver safety and competitiveness fairness, which are the key principles that have guided the development and creation of this policy.”
Khelif declined to enter a World Boxing tournament in the Netherlands in June, shortly after the governing body initially announced its plans to introduce sex testing.
The debate over the boxers has seen renewed discussion over athletes who may have differences in sexual development (DSD), which covers a group of conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs developing differently than expected.
World Boxing said athletes with DSD in which male androgenisation occurs will be eligible to compete only in the men’s category.
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But the governing body also plans to offer extra analysis and evaluation for athletes with Y chromosome genetic material who wish to compete in the women’s categories, as well as an appeals process.
National federations are responsible for conducting the tests and submitting the results, World Boxing said.
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Chromosome testing was previously common in Olympic sports but was largely abandoned in the 1990s because of numerous ambiguities.
Many sports switched to hormone testing, but it requires governing bodies to make difficult decisions on the eligibility of women with naturally high testosterone levels.
Earlier this year, World Athletics – the governing body for track and field – became the first Olympic sport to reintroduce chromosome testing.
Meanwhile, ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, US President Donald Trump said there are only two sexes – male and female – while calling on sports to ban transgender women from women’s events.
