PARIS: Imane Khelif, embroiled in a major gender controversy, beat Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision and bursting into tears after winning the 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.

Both boxers were disqualified at the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi after failing the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) eligibility rules preventing athletes with male XY chromosomes competing in women’s events.

Some of the crowd at North Paris Arena, where there were a large number of Algerians, chanted Khelif’s name ahead of the bout and cheered her into the ring.

Khelif had a quick start against Hamori, letting fly with flurries of lightning-quick punches to win the first two rounds on every judge’s score card, despite the Hungarian landing a couple of strong shots.

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.

“This is a matter of dignity and honour for every woman or female,” the 25-year-old Khelif told BeIN Sports after a second dominant victory in Paris, having dismantled her opening opponent in 46 seconds. “The entire Arab people have known me for years. For years I have been boxing in international federation competitions, they (IBA) were unfair with me. But I have God.”

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.”

On Friday, Hungary’s boxing federation said it had contacted the IOC to object to the participation of Khelif in the tournament.

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting can also guarantee herself at least a bronze medal on Sunday when she faces Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva in the quarter-finals of the women’s 57kg.

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.

The controversy ignited on Thursday when Khelif needed less than a minute to force an abandonment against her hurt and tearful Italian opponent Angela Carini.

Carini, who suffered a badly hurt nose and was distressed, collapsed to the centre of the ring in tears.

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.

Khelif and Lin, 28, both competed at the Tokyo Games three years ago, where they failed to win a medal.

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. Neither boxer is known to identify as transgender.

Khelif’s father Omar said from their Algerian village: “My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. She is a strong girl — I raised her to work and be brave.”

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2024