Italian boxer Angela Carini, on Thursday, cried her heart out as she abandoned her fight against Algerian Imane Khelif just 46 seconds into the bout. Carini was left in tears after she lost her opening bout at the Paris Olympics against the boxer who failed a gender test last year.
Khelif is being termed as a “biological male” who defeated Carini in the women’s boxing round of 16. Carini abandoned the fight after just 46 seconds in the first round itself, following a heavy punch on her face from the Algerian.
“I have always honored my country with loyalty. This time, I didn’t win because I couldn’t fight anymore. So, I ended the match,” Carini said.
“I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal. I have never been hit so hard in my life. It’s up to the IOC to judge,” a tearful Carini told reporters after crashing out.
Angela Carini (blue, female) abandons fight against Imane Khelif (red, male) a few minutes into fight /1 pic.twitter.com/yOIvZkDaow
— FairPlayForWomen (@fairplaywomen) August 1, 2024
Carini, who lost her father last year, wanted to win a medal for him but her dreams were shattered by Khelif in the opening round itself.
“I wanted this victory at all costs. Just for my father,” she added.
Notably, Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan are two female boxers who were disqualified from the 2023 world championships in Delhi for failing the gender eligibility tests but they have managed to comply with all IOC rules to fight at the Olympics.
It had emerged last year that both Khelif and Lin had elevated levels of Testosterone. Their test results also revealed that both had XY Chromosomes.
Khelif had made it to the quarterfinals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and became the first Algerian the following year to seal a spot in the final of IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk has come out in support of the Italian boxer. Sharing a post on X, which states: “Men don’t belong in women’s sports”, Musk wrote, “Absolutely.”
Absolutely https://t.co/twccUEOW9e
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2024
Musk isn’t the only high-profile individual to throw their weight behind Carini. Popular author JK Rowling too took to X to lend her support to the Italian pugilist.
“A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her. You’re a disgrace, your ‘safeguarding’ is a joke and #Paris24 will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini,” Rowling said.
‘Someone with a DSD cannot help the way they were born but they can choose not to cheat; they can choose not to take medals from women; they can choose not to cause injury.’ ✍️ @suzanne_moore https://t.co/p6Qdb4lXcx
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024
Another tweet read: “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024”
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected to India)
