Imane Khelif Appeals World Boxing Ban Over Mandatory Sex Testing Rule

Imane Khelif is officially challenging World Boxing’s decision to bar the Olympic gold medalist from women’s competitions unless a mandatory genetic sex test is completed.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed on Monday that Khelif has filed an appeal, seeking to overturn the eligibility requirement ahead of the 2025 World Boxing Championships. However, CAS also noted that it had dismissed Khelif’s request to suspend the decision while the case is being heard.

"The parties are currently exchanging written submissions and, with their agreement, a hearing will be scheduled," CAS said in a statement.

Khelif, has been at the center of international controversy ever since winning gold in the women’s welterweight division at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That victory came after Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA), which stated the Algerian boxer failed sex chromosome testing.

At the time, the IBA was still recognized as the sport’s governing body but was later stripped of its authority by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which took over organizing the boxing events in Paris and permitted Khelif to compete.

Now, ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, World Boxing is in charge. The organization officially introduced a new policy last month requiring all female athletes to undergo a one-time genetic test to confirm biological sex. The test looks for the presence of the SRY gene — a sex-determining region on the Y chromosome that indicates male development. If the gene is present, the athlete is male and therefore ineligible for the women’s division.

RELATED: Imane Khelif Plays The Victim, Calls Mandatory Sex Testing 'Unfair' In Boxing

When the new policy was first announced in May, the Algerian boxer was specifically named in the rollout — a move World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst later apologized for, saying Khelif’s privacy should have been protected.

Khelif skipped the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands in June and has since continued pushing back on the policy. In fact, the 26-year-old still maintains that the plan is to defend the gold medal in 2028.

Imane Khelif is appealing World Boxing’s rule requiring female athletes to undergo genetic sex testing to compete in women’s events.

(Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

According to the Associated Press, the newly-elected IOC president Kirsty Coventry has launched a task force to examine gender eligibility issues across all sports.

As OutKick previously reported, World Boxing’s new rules were introduced following backlash from the Paris Games, where both Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting — also reportedly a DSD male athlete — dominated the women’s field en route to gold.

In response, the Trump Administration issued new visa guidance earlier this summer stating that male athletes who wish to compete in women’s events will not be permitted entry into the U.S. for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Whether Khelif will be allowed to compete at all remains up to CAS. What’s clear is that international sports bodies are finally responding to growing public demand for fairness and safety in women’s sports, and Khelif’s dominance in Paris was a major catalyst for that change.