Dramatic backflip in boxing’s gender scandal after Italian fighter sends message

The boxing gender furore at the Paris Olympics took an unexpected twist as one of the fighters at the centre of the controversy changed course.

Angela Carini has completed a dramatic backflip with her thoughts on Imane Khelif. Pictures: AFP

The Italian fighter who had her Olympic dreams knocked out in 46 seconds has issued an apology to the Algerian fighter at the centre of boxing’s gender scandal.

Angela Carini, who abandoned her bout against Imane Khelif in the women’s 66kg category after receiving a hard punch to her nose, has performed a backflip after initially being critical of her opponent’s inclusion in the competition.

Khelif and Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting both failed gender eligibility tests last year which led to their removal from the world championships - and have faced strong opposition to their presence in Paris.

There was a furore on Thursday after the Algerian boxer unloaded on Carini, who claimed afterwards she’d “never been hit so hard”.

But Carini has now changed course, saying sorry to Khelif for her reaction.

Angela Carini has completed a dramatic backflip with her thoughts on Imane Khelif. Pictures: AFP

“All this controversy makes me sad,” she told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

Carini also apologised for rejecting Khelif’s attempted handshake in the ring.

“It wasn’t something I intended to do,” she said.

“Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.”

She said if she encountered Khelif again she would “embrace her”.

Khelif’s next opponent, Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori, isn’t on the same page.

Hungary launches a protest over Khelif

Anna Luca Hamori celebrates after defeating Australia’s Marissa Williamson in her first bout. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Hamori said her opponent’s inclusion is unfair ahead of their bout on Saturday.

“In my humble opinion I don’t think it’s fair that this contestant can compete in the women’s category,” the 23-year-old Hamori wrote on Facebook.

“But I cannot concern myself with that now, I cannot change it, it’s life.”

Previously Hamori had defended Khelif’s participation, telling Hungary’s state news agency MTI that “if they let her compete here, they must know she’s a woman”.

The upcoming fight involving Hungary’s first woman boxer at an Olympics has caused outrage in the Central European country.

The Hungarian Olympic Committee said it had reached out to the IOC over Khelif’s inclusion, saying it was a “fundamental requirement for equal opportunities for women that only competitors with just female biological characteristics … should be allowed to compete in the women’s field”.

“If the Olympic rules for participation in boxing do not fully guarantee this, the rules should be reviewed and, if necessary, amended,” it said.

Algeria's Imane Khelif (in red) has plans on winning gold. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

The head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee has “initiated immediate consultations” with the IOC’s director of sport to “clarify the situation”, according to the statement.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the Olympic body’s eligibility criteria was based on the gender indicated on the boxers’ passports, but acknowledged that it’s “not a black and white issue”.

Khelif’s former opponents speak out

The division in the sport also extends to Khelif’s former opponents.

The 25-year-old has fought 50 time in her career for a 41-9 record.

One of the women to defeat the Algerian - Ireland’s Amy Broadhurst - defended her on social media.

“Have had a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’. I thinks it’s the way she was born and that’s out of her control,” Broadhurst wrote. “The fact that she has been [beaten] by nine females before says it all.”

But Mexico’s Brianda Tamara, who was beaten so severely by Khelif she couldn’t believe that she escaped without a major injury, had a much different position.

Mexican fighter Brianda Tamara, taking a selfie showcasing her injuries from a 2022 fight with Imane Khelif.

“When I fought with her, I felt very out of my depth; her blows hurt me a lot,” Tamara wrote on X after Khelif’s disqualification in 2023.

“I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realised.”

Lin towers over opponent in emphatic win

Lin towered over her opponent and won a unanimous decision in her first fight on Friday.

She didn’t land the types of heavy blows that shocked the world in the Khelif bout, but was still far too good for Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in their 57kg bout.

Both of the boxers in the 57kg class left through the media zone without speaking. Turdibekova was reportedly in tears, while Lin refused to talk resulting in official broadcasters lodging a complaint.

Lin Yu Ting easily won her first fight in Paris.

Lin’s next fight is against Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva on Sunday.

Earlier this week, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee expressed its indignation at the participation of both Khelif and Lin and said it intended to lodge a formal complaint with the IOC.

Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the 2023 world championships in New Delhi, run by the IBA, but both competed at the Tokyo Games in 2021 in the women’s competition.

The boxing in Paris is overseen by the International Olympic Committee, not the IBA.

Neither Khelif nor Lin is known to identify as transgender.

- with AFP