NEW DELHI: All 10 Indian women boxers, including Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen, have cleared the sport’s global governing body-mandated genetic sex testing to determine their eligibility categories ahead of their participation in the World Championships commencing in the UK’s Liverpool on Thursday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Sources told TOI that all of them underwent a more advanced FISH-based testing, which stands for ‘Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation’, a molecular biology test for genetic analysis. The boxers were tested at their training camp in NIS Patiala before flying to Sheffield in the third and fourth week of Aug for a multi-nation training camp for the Worlds.They carried their FISH testing report certificates to Liverpool and presented them before the medical and anti-doping committee of World Boxing (WB), which approved the findings to identify the presence or absence of Y chromosome genetic material, such as the SRY gene.All boxers over the age of 18 competing at the Worlds were required to undergo a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or equivalent genetic test, as mandated by World Boxing. However, the Indian pugilists opted for the FISH testing procedure, which uses fluorescent probes to detect specific DNA or RNA sequences on chromosomes or within cells for diagnosing genetic disorders.According to the World Boxing’s ‘Sex Eligibility Policy’, “all athletes over the age of 18 will need to undergo a once-in-a lifetime, PCR test or a functional medical equivalent genetic test, to determine their sex at birth and their eligibility to compete”. The policy became effective on Aug 20-2025.The introduction of this policy followed controversies regarding the sex eligibility of some female boxers in recent years, including Paris Olympics champion Imane Khelif from Algeria and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting. Both Khelif and Yu-ting will not compete at the Worlds amid the ongoing gender eligibility row.Khelif had petitioned the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), demanding that World Boxing’s ruling for boxers to undertake a PCR genetic test be overturned. A PCR test is a laboratory technique that detects specific genetic material, in this case, the presence of the Y chromosome (SRY gene), which is an indicator of biological sex.
