Algeria boxer imane khelif wins first olympic fight when opponent angela carini quits

Lin begins her Paris run Friday. She fights Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in her opening bout after receiving a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed in the 57-kilogram category, although

Olympic seeding is frequently not indicative of the top medal contenders in a division. The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement Wednesday condemning what it termed “lies” and

“unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.” Meloni, who was visiting Italy athletes in the Olympic

Village on Thursday, voiced criticism that Carini had to box Khelif, saying she had since 2021 opposed allowing athletes with “genetically male” characteristics to compete against women.

“We have to pay attention, in an attempt to not discriminate, that we’re actually discriminating” against women’s rights, Meloni said. Khelif and Lin are two-time Olympians who fought in the

Tokyo Games. Lin has been an elite-level amateur boxer for a decade and Khelif for six years. The IOC repeatedly defended the boxers’ right to compete this week. Olympic boxing reached

gender parity for the first time this year, with 124 men and 124 women competing in Paris. The IOC said it made its eligibility decisions on boxers based on the gender-related rules that

applied at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Several sports have updated their gender rules over the past three years, including World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling

Union. The track body also last year tightened rules on athletes with differences in sex development. The IOC is in charge of boxing in Paris because it has revoked the Olympic status of

the IBA following years of governance problems, a lack of financial transparency and many perceived instances of corruption in judging and refereeing. The IBA is controlled by president Umar

Kremlev, who is Russian. He brought in Russian state-owned Gazprom as its primary sponsor and moved much of the IBA’s operations to Russia. The IBA has since lost more than three dozen

members who have formed a new group called World Boxing, which hopes to be recognized by the IOC as the sport’s governing body ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The IBA has aggressively

seized on the two boxers’ presence in Paris to criticize the IOC. After the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the IOC’s ban earlier this year, the IBA appealed to the Swiss Federal

Tribunal in a last-gasp attempt to beat the IOC. The banned body issued a statement Wednesday in which it claimed both boxers did not have a “testosterone examination” last year but were

“subject to a separate and recognized test” for their disqualification. The IBA said the test’s “specifics remain confidential,” refusing to explain it. The IBA disregarded IOC

recommendations and allowed Russian fighters to compete at the 2023 world championships under the Russian flag. The governing body then disqualified Khelif only after Khelif defeated Russian

boxer Azalia Amineva during the tournament.