There is outrage among netizens after an Italian boxer Angela Carini dropped out of her bout with biological male boxer Imane Khelif, in just 46 seconds at the ongoing Paris Olympic.
Carini was pummelled into submission by Imane Khelif, who represented Algeria at the games.
Interestingly, Khelif failed a gender eligibility test last year, but ‘she’ was admitted into the Olympics ongoing in Paris.
The outcome of today’s match attracted an angry reaction from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
It was a pitiful sight as Angela Carini struggled with tears when the hand of Khelif was raised as the winner.
She could not hold it at some point and collapsed to her knees and sobbed openly at what many online commentators are calling daylight robbery.
She snubbed attempts by Khelif to hug or shake her. Then when she stood before reporters, she broke down in tears again weeping inconsolably.
Khelif has now scaled through to the quarter-finals of the women’s 66kg category after outpunching Carini and bloodying her nose within seconds of the fight, making her unable to proceed.
Talking to the press after the bout, Carini said her nose started bleeding from the very first blow thrown by Khelif.
Carini, 25, added that she fought very often in the national team and trained with her brother.
She said she had always fought against men, but she felt too much pain from the hits she got from Khelif.
Khelif and Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from the world championships last year. However, somehow, they admitted into the ongoing competition to compete against biological female.
Information on the IOC website for accredited media in Paris indicated that Khelif, 25, was disqualified after a test showed high levels of testosterone in their system over the eligibility range.
Italian Prime Minister said the fight between Carini and Khelif was “not on an equal footing.”
Meloni said athletes who had male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions.
Reacting to a question of why she dropped to her knees on the ring and wept, Carini said it was because of her father.
She said she was disappointed and regretted that she would not be able to take the Italian flag to the podium.
Algeria’s Olympic Committee (COA) rose in favour of its athlete, condemning what it called malicious attacks on their athlete by ‘certain foreign media’.
IOC has also offered a defence for their decision to allow Khelif to fight in the women category.
Its spokesman Mark Adams told newsmen earlier this week that everyone competing in the women’s category had met the competition eligibility rules.
He said the transgender boxers are women according to their passports, saying, it was “stated in there that they are female.”
A woman boxer at the Games, Caitlin Parker who competes in the 75kg weight class is on record as having criticised the inclusion of transgender women in boxing.
She said she was against their inclusion in combat sports as it could be incredibly dangerous.
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