Author J.K. Rowling expressed fury at the BBC on Tuesday after the network awarded an athlete who previously failed a gender-eligibility test.
Zambian football (soccer) player Barbra Banda received the BBC’s Women’s Footballer of The Year award through a public voting campaign “after nominees were selected by a panel of global football experts, including coaches, players, administrators and non-BBC journalists,” per GBN. The award did not come without a bit of controversy:
Zambian striker Barbra Banda was handed the gong on Tuesday – despite previously being withdrawn from the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) over gender eligibility concerns.
The award comes two years after Banda was omitted from Zambia’s Wafcon squad before she could undergo sex testing, following concerns about high testosterone levels.
As noted by the Associated Press, Banda was…
