Gender Eligibility of 2 Athletes Called into Question in Women's Boxing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boxing at Paris 2024 has been overshadowed by a row about the eligibility of two fighters in the women’s competition. What's more, Algeria’s Imane Khelif (top left) and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting (top right) are guaranteed at least bronze medals.

 

It has been claimed that the two boxers had failed gender tests and were disqualified from the International Boxing Association’s Women’s World Championships.

 

 

 

[Note: The disqualification was based on two tests performed during the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul 2022 and the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi 2023 on both athletes. 

 

For clarification: The Algerian initially appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but withdrew the appeal during the process, making the IBA decision legally binding. And the Taiwanese did not appeal the IBA’s decision to the CAS, thus also rendering the decision legally binding]. 

 

At the Paris Olympics, Italy’s Angela Carini had faced off against Imani Khelif on Thursday, in the welterweight (66kg) category, but lasted just 46 seconds. After taking two big punches to the face, Carini threw down her helmet and forfeited the bout, crying “this is unjust!”

 

Lin, meanwhile, won an unanimous decision Friday against Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova in the featherweight (57kg) category, winning 5-0 in the three-round match – and advanced to the women’s boxing quarterfinals.

 

On Saturday, the Algerian boxer triumphed in a dominant 5-0 victory over Hungary's Luca Anna Hamori.

 

UK's Daily Mail reported that ahead of the bout, Hamori stated she was not fazed by the prospect of facing Khelif. "I'm not scared", Hamori said. "I don't care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win".

 

BBC too reported that Hamori had asserted that she did not "think it is fair". Post-match, she was again asked if she thought the fight was unfair, Hamori, who was booed into the arena, said: "I don't care about it".

 

And yesterday, Lin defeated Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva on an unanimous points decision to reach the semi-finals of the women’s 57kg category.

 

In fact, following the latter's loss, Staneva (right) had pointed to herself and twice made an "X" with her fingers, indicating that she has XX chromosomes and so, signifying she's a woman.

 

It is obvious that all those matches have been easy wins for two boxers having XY chromosomes against fighters with XX chromosomes. Meaning, the former have an unfair advantage.

Zara Pulls Ad Over Gaza Reference Claims

Fashion brand Zara on Tuesday said it was removing an advertising campaign from its website and social media channels after angry criticism online claimed that it resembled images of destruction in Gaza. 

 

The move follows days of boycott calls across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok over the promotion called ‘The Jacket’, which featured a model holding a mannequin seemingly wrapped in white plastic, fragments of plasterboard, a roughly painted crooked wooden box, rubble and statues, as well as other mannequins with missing limbs. 

 

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created”, Zara said in a statement posted on its Instagram account. 

 

The Inditex-owned fashion brand added that the ad campaign, which was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents a series of images of “unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”.

 

UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said they had received over 100 complaints that the imagery referenced the current conflict in Gaza and was therefore offensive. 

 

In early November, UK clothing chain M&S apologized for an Instagram video showing green, white, and red paper hats burning in a fire. The company explained that the video was part of a campaign recorded in August to “playfully show that some people don’t enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, some social media users argued the hats reflected the colors of the Palestinian flag. And they accused M&S of "promoting the burning of the Palestinian flag". 

 

In the end, the firm deleted the picture and apologised for any "unintentional hurt".

 

It should be noted that the colors of the festive hats are also the same as the flags of Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Oman, Lebanon, Madagascar and Burundi and are ones traditionally associated every Christmas.

The 3 Unhappiest Countries in the EU

Bulgaria is the unhappiest country in the EU, according to statistics published by the bloc’s official agency, Eurostat. With an overall life satisfaction score of 5.6 out of 10, it was the only one of the 27 member nations polled where residents, on average, rated themselves as dissatisfied rather than satisfied. 

 

Germany is the second-most miserable on the continent, with a rating of 6.5 – a sharp drop from its score last year of 7.1. While the survey did not ask respondents to give specific reasons for their self-evaluation, multiple polls conducted this month showed widespread dissatisfaction with the German government, which are facing a financial crisis and a crisis of confidence, problems many believe are entirely of the government’s own making.

 

Greece rounded out the top three unhappiest nations, with an average life satisfaction rating of 6.7. 

 

And the happiest country on the continent is Austria, where residents rated their happiness at 7.9. Finland, Poland, and Romania are tied for second happiest with scores of 7.7. 

 

The ratings appeared to support the cliche that money cannot buy happiness, as neither of second-place scorers Romania or Poland enjoyed a high average per capita income in 2022, and Romanians even made less on average than their much more miserable neighbors in Bulgaria. 

 

While five out of the ten top finishers in the 2023 World Happiness Report, published in March, were EU member countries, only Finland, which came in at number one, was among the high scorers on both lists. 

 

Denmark, the second-happiest nation in the world in that report, was also the only European country that managed to decrease its consumption of antidepressants(!) in the last decade. It ranked seventh on life satisfaction in Eurostat’s report.

 

My two cents:

 

 

Ukraine Bombs Site of Zaporizhzhia NPP

The International Atomic Energy Agency have warned of a “nuclear disaster” at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant situated near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, “Ukraine”. Unless fighting stops. 

FYI, Ukraine has been bombing the site of  the nuclear facility – this was confirmed by its president, [V]olodymyr [Z]elenskiy, in a video address on Saturday – and concerns persist about the shelling occurring around the facility, with the potential to damage critical infrastructure, including the reactors. 

Also, reactors need to be constantly cooled by water passing through them. If that water stream is cut out, cut down, cut off in some fashion, then the reactor could lose cooling, and the fuel will start melting. It will sort of create high pressure, and the thing can explode. 

And in the immediate aftermath of an explosion, there will be invisible radioactive clouds being released – and some experts have speculated on the radius of radiation contamination: 

I must point out I don’t know if this is a valid proposition though. 

Anyway, rather than a reactor core explosion, experts are more concerned about damage to systems that cool the spent fuel pool and the reactors. If the cooling fails, this could lead to an uncontrolled heat build-up, a meltdown and a fire that could release and spread radiation from the containment structures. 

A radiation release is just as scary. It’s unpredictable; you won’t know where the plume (containing radioactive material) would go. It can go anywhere really, depending on the weather conditions. 

Due to the power plant’s geographical location, it is said a radiation release could hit any part of the European continent. This scenario is even scarier! 

For sure, Ukraine is getting desperate and reckless! It’s sheer madness!

Visit Ukraine 2022

It would seem that even a country at “war” can become a popular destination and attract travellers, especially from Europe and North America! 

Consider Ukraine – although I must clarify that this country is mired in a military conflict with a neighbor, rather than being actually caught in a full-blown war, as Western media would like to portray. If Russia really goes to war, would VIPs ("Very Idiotic Persons") dare to step foot into a country where death and destruction is all around? 

Indeed, the country is luring those who want to be seen to "stand with Ukraine" and in the process, bask in the media limelight. This explains why an endless stream of visitors can’t wait to turn up there and I can tell you, thus far, the guest line-up is pretty impressive! 

In March, Ukraine hosted Czechia’s prime minister Petr Fiala, together with Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa, and Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his deputy Jaroslaw Kaczynski. 

In April, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, European Council President Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen were all in Ukraine at one time or another. So too, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciucă, Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov, Swiss leader of the House of Representatives Irène Kälin and fellow parliamentarians, Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė, UK prime minister Boris Johnson, and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen along with her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez. Not forgetting, from the US, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. 

In May, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, his deputy Chrystia Freeland and foreign minister Mélanie Joly paid Ukraine a visit. So too, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Eva-Maria Liimets, Edgars Rinkēvičs and Gabrielius Landsbergis respectively. And from the US, came House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a posse of Democratic Reps, Gregory Meeks of New York, Jason Crow of Colorado, Jim McGovern and Bill Keating of Massachusetts, and Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee of California. Also, actor and United Nations special envoy Angelina Jolie and even first lady Jill Biden. Not to mention Irish singer-songwriter of U2 band, Bono.

I don’t think the above listing is exhaustive – but you get my drift! 

Ukraine is most certainly, 2022’s No. 1 travel destination!

Sugar Keeps Roads Accident-Free

Nikolay Grozev, the mayor in Nova Zagora in southeastern Bulgaria was alarmed at the rising number of deadly road accidents in his municipality and last week, he ordered that major roads be sprinkled with 50 kg of sugar.

 

The initiative is based on an ancient legend according to which dusting roads with sugar will chase away “evil omens”. Bulgarian National Television even showed Grozev, armed with a packet of sugar, powdering a road.

If I am to believe, then I am cleansed daily. I drink Coke (i.e. sugar water) every day and it's keeping the spirits away. No wonder lah!

 

On Monday, the two certificates from Toastmasters International (photo below) came in the mail. If you notice, both are dated the same day, i.e. April 22, 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are Competent Communicator awards for my twentieth and twenty-first rounds of the CC manual that I have completed.

A second envelope reached me on Tuesday and it contained another Competent Communicator award dated April 24, 2015 – my twenty-second.

I am already working on manuals No. 23, 24, 25 and 26 concurrently and expect to complete them by end August 2015 – provided I can get speaking slots.

 

On Tuesday, I was in KL Sentral to deliver my CC #8 speech titled Stones. And I was the Humor Master too. This was the Allianz Toastmasters Club meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It started three minutes late but otherwise, it was an enjoyable meeting – I would give it a score of a 5 over 10. I suppose I should mention that I was voted Best Speaker – it didn’t come as a surprise because it was a good speech, if I may say so myself.