PARIS:
Imane Khelif beat Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision in a welterweight quarter-final fight at the Paris Games on Saturday to ensure Algeria’s first Olympic boxing medal since 2000.
Khelif, a silver medallist at the 2022 worlds, and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting have been in the spotlight in recent days as part of a gender row that has dominated headlines and been the subject of much discussion on social media platforms.
The Algerian was slightly less willing to engage in exchanges in the final round, which had more than its fair share of clinching and grappling, but she did enough to win by a comfortable margin.
The pair hugged after the final bell, before a tearful Khelif embraced her coaches on the sidelines.
Khelif will face Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand, whom she beat at the World Championships in 2023 before being disqualified, in Tuesday’s semi-finals.
“It is hard, she has suffered a lot — as a child and now as a champion, she has suffered so much during these Games,” said Khelif’s coach Mohamed Chaoua.
“Where is the humanity? Where are the associations for women’s rights? She is a victim.”
‘Sad controversy’
The North Paris Arena had a number of Algerian fans in attendance, who cheered on Khelif throughout the bout and chanted “Imane, Imane, Imane” loudly while waving the country’s flags.
“We were quite sad to see that controversy, she’s an athlete who is well supported in Algeria and we’re behind her,” Algerian fan Kawther Laanani told Reuters.
The boxing tournament in Paris is being organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which stripped the IBA of international recognition in 2023 over governance and finance issues.
IOC president Thomas Bach on Saturday said there “was never any doubt” that Khelif and Lin were women who had every right to compete at the Paris Olympics.
On Friday, Hungary’s boxing federation said it had contacted the IOC to object to the participation of Khelif in the tournament.
Khelif won her round-of-16 bout in 46 seconds on Thursday, after her Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out of the fight.
Carini was hit with multiple punches in the first 30 seconds, before raising her hand and returning to her corner to withdraw from the fight.
The Italian, who said she withdrew because she felt intense pain and was worried for her own safety, later said she wanted to apologise to Khelif in an interview with Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
Taiwan’s double world champion Lin faces Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria in a featherweight quarter-final on Sunday.
The Bulgarian Olympic Committee said it had voiced its concerns over Khelif’s and Lin’s presence at the tournament during a meeting with the IOC’s Medical and Scientific Commission on July 27.
