Oraekwe 'heartbroken' To Miss Worlds Over Late Sex Tests

A personnel of nan Nigeria women's boxing squad barred from nan inaugural World Championships successful Liverpool because she missed a deadline for a caller familial activity trial has told BBC Sport it is "heartbreaking".

Blessing Oraekwe, who had been owed to compete successful nan 75kg category, said World Boxing should salary compensation to screen nan costs of her team's wasted travel to nan UK.

The world governing assemblage for amateur boxing said successful May that women wanting to compete successful nan event, which started connected Thursday, would person to person mandatory activity testing nether its gender eligibility policy.

However, connected nan championship's opening day, nan French boxing federation revealed that its women's squad had suffered "a profound injustice" by being excluded because samples had not been processed by a laboratory successful clip "despite guarantees" by World Boxing.

It said its athletes were being "punished for a bureaucratic nonaccomplishment and a argumentation that was communicated acold excessively late."

It past emerged that 12 fighters crossed 5 nations had been barred, including 3 of Nigeria's women's team.

"I consciousness truthful sad," said Oraekwe.

"It was heartbreaking for maine because my scheme was to travel present and predominate successful nan ringing and return nan golden for my country. I cognize really I worked truthful difficult for this.

"And I cognize really difficult it was for my country, and nan Nigerian boxing federation, [who] gathered money for me, and nan different boxers, to beryllium here."

World Boxing has rejected nan criticism, saying it "made it clear that testing will beryllium nan work of nationalist federations arsenic they person nan closest links and astir entree to their boxers and are champion placed to negociate nan testing process".

It said each federations had been warned connected 21 August that nan processing of results for sex-testing tin return 48 hours and that immoderate tests completed later than 1 September "would jeopardise your athlete's introduction into nan charismatic tie and competition".

Teams were told to see their presence clip if they required testing erstwhile successful nan UK.

Nigerian officials said Oraekwe and 2 of her team-mates had testing successful Leeds connected Monday, instantly aft landing successful nan UK, but did not person their results until Thursday evening, by which clip they had been barred.

"They brought nan tests late", said Oraekwe. "All I want to opportunity is for World Boxing to compensate us, because we person spent a lot." World Boxing has been approached for comment.

The activity tests are banned successful France without a aesculapian prescription, truthful nan French boxing federation besides sent its five-member women's squad to nan laboratory successful Leeds connected Monday to return them.

It said it learned connected Wednesday "with stupefaction and indignation" that nan fighters would not beryllium capable to compete because, "despite guarantees fixed to america by World Boxing, nan laboratory which they recommended to america was not up to nan task of delivering nan results connected time".

It said: "As a result, our athletes arsenic good arsenic those from different countries person been caught successful this trap and excluded."

French combatant Maelys Richol told BBC Sport she was "really upset astir nan situation".

She said: "When I came present I didn't deliberation it would move retired for illustration this. It's been a year, almost, that we've been preparing for nan World Championships. And learning that nan time before, it's not easy."

World Boxing said nan tests person been introduced to guarantee information and fairness successful nan women's competition.

"We're sympathetic because we cognize each boxer gives their bosom and psyche each nighttime successful nan gym," Mike McAtee, World Boxing's acting caput general, told BBC Sport.

"But boxing is simply a athletics that you person to travel nan rules. One of nan biggest things is to protect boxers from themselves, and make judge that we person wellness and safety.

"We gave plentifulness of notice, but again we're sympathetic to immoderate boxer, coach, federation that prepared, and for immoderate logic they weren't capable to participate.

"This is 100% nan correct argumentation to make judge that we person athletes compete safely and competitively.

"From our standpoint, we tin ever learn. We'll look astatine this afterwards, really we tin beryllium a amended organisation to make judge we're capable to support our members to beryllium capable to get testing if they're not allowed successful their country."

The governing assemblage has declined to opportunity if immoderate fighters taking nan tests person grounded them.

Last week Algerian boxer Imane Khelif filed an appeal to nan Court of Arbitration for Sport to situation World Boxing's preamble of nan familial activity test.

Khelif, on pinch Taiwanese combatant Lin Yu-ting, was disqualified from nan 2023 World Championships by erstwhile world governing assemblage nan International Boxing Association (IBA) for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.

Neither Khelif nor Lin has entered this year's event.

The brace made headlines astatine nan 2024 Paris Olympics, wherever they won golden medals aft nan International Olympic Committee (IOC) permitted them to compete.

The IOC said competitors were eligible for nan women's section successful Paris if their passports said they were female.

Boxing has undergone a awesome restructure successful caller years aft nan IBA was stripped of its powers for failing to instrumentality reforms.

The IOC oversaw governance of boxing astatine nan Paris Olympics earlier World Boxing was granted provisional nickname arsenic nan sport's world governing federation by nan IOC successful February.