Algeria’s Imane Khelif, one of two transgender Olympic boxers disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing gender eligibility tests, entered the ring Thursday at the Paris Games and forced Italy’s Angela Carini to quit.
Khelif prevailed when Italy’s Angela Carini stopped fighting after 46 seconds.
Carini was punched in the nose and immediately knew she was done with the bout.
That punch is under heavy scrutiny as a replay of it showed just how hard Imane Khelif hit her.
Social media was upset:
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Carini cried when speaking with reporters after the fight bout with Imane Khelif and spoke only in Italian.
Italian coach Renzini said Carini had been told not to take the fight, and it had been weighing on her as the bout approached. As we saw, she should’ve listened.
The crowd at North Paris Arena were not upset as they greeted Imane Khelif with cheers before the abbreviated fight at the Summer Olympics and several Algeria flags were seen among the crowd.
The issue of gender eligibility came into focus at the 2023 world championships when Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan both won medals in the women’s competition before tournament officials announced the boxers had failed gender eligibility tests.
However, the International Olympic Committee stated the two boxers met the criteria to compete in Paris.
Much like Imane Khelif, Yu-Ting is set to upset social media when he is scheduled to begin competition Friday against Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in the featherweight division at 57 kg.
Algeria Condemns Targeting of Boxer Imane Khelif
Imane Khelif is public enemy number one after the transgender boxer easily defeated Italy’s Angela Carini when she was forced to quit after 46 seconds due to two vicious punches.
Before the match, many had been blasting Khelif for being allowed to fight women.
Algeria’s Olympic Committee condemned “baseless” attacks on the boxer amid his participation in the Olympics after her disqualification from a tournament last year for failing a gender eligibility test.
Imane Khelif was disqualified hours before the gold medal bout.
He has, however, been ruled eligible to compete in the boxing competition at the Paris Olympics.
“COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets,” it said in a statement, per Rappler.com.
“Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
