Lin Yu-ting wins women's 60kg boxing gold at Asian Games in Nagoya
Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting beat China's Yang Chengyu 5-0 to claim the women's 60kg boxing gold at the Asian Games in Nagoya on October 2, 2026. The 30-year-old said she had contemplated quitting after a controversial gender dispute at the Paris Olympics but was "grateful for making it through."
Lin's victory is her second Asian Games gold, having won the 57kg title in Hangzhou three years earlier. She told AFP before the Games that she had considered retiring after winning gold at the Paris Olympics but wanted to continue competing in part to defy those who questioned her eligibility. Lin and Algeria's Imane Khelif were at the centre of a gender row at the 2024 Olympics, a dispute that drew comments from public figures including Donald Trump, Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling. The pair had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA), but the IOC allowed them to compete in Paris, calling them victims of "a sudden and arbitrary decision" by the widely discredited IBA; both went on to win Olympic gold.
At the Nishio Gymnasium in Aichi prefecture Lin used her reach to control the final and held a clear advantage entering the third and final round, then withstood a late assault from Yang to secure the unanimous 5-0 decision. A small pocket of vocal Taiwanese supporters were among the crowd as Lin celebrated with the minimum of fuss and later posed with her gold medal during the medal ceremony. After the win she said she had been "waiting for that moment when the light breaks through" and added, "It was really not easy at all. It's rare to finally reach that point where you see the dawn, and I'm just so grateful to myself for making it through."
Lin described an earlier desire to stop competing, saying, "I basically just felt like packing up my things and rushing back home — that was the kind of mindset I had." She credited her coach, saying, "I didn't hold on to any hope any more. I am so grateful to the coach for always believing in me and always believing that good things would happen." Lin said she moved up a weight class for the Asian Games because she was "not afraid to die" and wanted to test a different version of herself after a "really solid track record at 57kg."
Other results on the day included China's Olympic champion Wu Yu defending her Asian Games title in the women's 51kg with a 5-0 win over Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam. Japan's Rui Yamaguchi took gold in the men's 55kg, winning a split decision 3-2 over the Philippines' Carlo Paalam, who was a silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Lin declined to confirm whether she plans to defend her Olympic title at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, saying only, "I believe that in the future, we can also put on an even better performance, persevere all the way and laugh until the end."
