Italian boxer Angela Carini who withdrew from the fight in just 46 seconds has revealed that she would like to apologize to opponent Imane Khelif amid the controversy surrounding their boxing match.
Imane Khelif receiving backlash online
Carini went to the corner for her coach after taking a punch to her face in just 30 seconds to fix her headgear and then returned to the fight. After resuming the battle, she returns to the corner and abandons the fight. The coach revealed that she suffered from a major noise injury and couldn’t continue the fight.
The match ended inside 46 seconds on 1st August, with the Algerian boxer later receiving a counterblast online after it was uncovered that she was one of two female boxers who had been disqualified from last year’s fight due to failing an International Boxing Association (IBA) gender eligibility test.
Carini regrets not shaking hands with Khelif
Carini, 25, expressed her views and said abandoning the fight had been a mature step to take but later she regrets not shaking hands with Khelif after the match ended.
Carini said: “All this “I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she could fight, I respect that decision.” The controversy makes me sad.
“It wasn’t something I intended to do. Actually I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.”Carini added on shaking the hand controversy
She concluded and said that if she met Khelif again, she would ’embrace her’.
Controversy over gender test
The Russia-led International Boxing Association (IBA), which carried out the tests in 2023 said Khelif “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations”.
Khelif has always competed in the women’s division and is recognized by the IOC as a female athlete.
“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, and has a female passport,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said.
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