Decision to ban transgender cyclists meets with universal support at Hong Kong International Track Cup
- Hong Kong sisters Leung Bo-yee and Leung Wing-yee support creation of open category as solution
- Malaysian coach John Beasley says if transgender athletes want to compete ‘they can race me’
The decision by British Cycling bosses to ban transgender athletes from the female category of its elite competitions met with almost universal support at the Hong Kong International Track Cup on Saturday.
After a nine-month review and consultation, a new participation policy the governing body said was “predicated on fairness”, means such athletes will compete in an ‘open category’ with men.
Female races will only be “for those whose sex was assigned female at birth”.
Hong Kong cycling siblings Leung Bo-yee and Leung Wing-yee both agreed it was “not fair” to allow transgender athletes to compete in the same events as female athletes.
And Wing-yee, the younger of the two, who won bronze in the individual road race time trial at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, believed an “open category” for transgender riders would be a more reasonable approach.
“Both women and transgender women have chance to compete in the same competitions if we separate it into two,” the 26-year-old said. “I’d feel uncomfortable competing against them on the same stage.
