Imane Khelif beats Anna Luca Hamori as boxing controversy rumbles on
The Algerian now moves into the semi-finals.
Imane Khelif, one of the boxers at the centre of a gender row at the Olympics, secured her second successive victory in the women’s 66kg quarter-final bout against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori.
The participation of Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting at Paris 2024 has led to scrutiny after they were disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
On Thursday, Algeria’s Khelif won her fight in just 46 seconds, with opponent Angela Carini saying afterwards that she had “never felt a punch like this”.
Victory set up a meeting with Hamori in the final eight on Saturday and cheered on by Algerian fans in the North Paris Arena, Khelif tested her opponent with a series of stinging jabs.
Hamori responded with a few good shots of her own, including a big right hook in the second round, but Khelif remained in control throwing some good body combinations.
The Algerian threw another huge punch to Hamori’s face in the third round and Khelif emerged victorious on unanimous decision.
Chinese Taipei fighter Lin also won her women’s featherweight (-57kg) fight on Friday with a unanimous decision victory over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.
Both Lin and Khelif have previously competed in female boxing events for a number of years, but the International Boxing Association (IBA) – which carried out the tests in 2023 – said the duo failed “to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition”.
However, the IBA was stripped as the global governing body for boxing in June last year by the IOC, which is administering the sport in Paris.
In a press conference on Saturday morning, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach addressed the criticism surrounding the two boxers and condemned the “hate speech” the pair have received on social media.
“Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said.
“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.
“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
Carini apologised for her reaction post-fight and told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: “All this controversy makes me sad. I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”
Bach also stressed that the controversy is “not a transgender issue”.
“We are not talking about a transgender issue here, this is about a woman taking part in a women’s category,” he said.
On Friday night the Hungarian Boxing Association questioned the decision to allow the Algerian to compete and called for clarification about her participation.
