Angela Carini has issued an apology to Imane Khelif after the controversial end to their Olympic boxing event on Thursday.
The 25-year-old abandoned her fight against Khelif after just 46 seconds having taken a heavy punch to the face from the Algerian in the opening exchanges.
Carini was heard telling her coach, ‘it’s not fair’ and ‘it hurts like hell’ before the fight was called off and Khelif was announced as the winner.
The Italian was left distraught in the ring and opted not to follow tradition as she refused to shake Khelif’s hand after it was raised by the referee.
Controversy has surrounded Khelif’s participation at the Olympics in Paris after she was disqualified from the final of the Women’s World Championships last year for failing International Boxing Association (IBA) eligibility rules which prevents athletes with XY chromosomes from participating in women’s events.
Khelif, who competed at the Olympics in Tokyo three years ago, has been cleared to participate in her second Games as the competition is run by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has since said that it is ‘saddened by the abuse’ the Algerian has received.
Carini, meanwhile, is also apologetic towards Khelif following their contest on Thursday.
‘All this controversy makes me sad,’ Carini told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
‘I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.’
Speaking about her decision to not shake Khelif’s hand after the bout, Carini said: ‘It wasn’t something I intended to do.
‘Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.
‘I don’t have anything against Khelif. Actually, if I were to meet her again I would embrace her.’
Khelif will now face Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the 66kg women’s boxing quarter final at 4.22pm on Saturday.
Speaking briefly after her win against Carini on Thursday, Khelif declared: ‘I am here for gold. I’ll fight anyone.’
Meanwhile, Rafael Lozano, the last Spanish boxer to win an Olympic medal and the team’s national coach for boxing, claims that his fighters were unable to train with Khelif due to her power.
‘I don’t see it as fair, I don’t see it as equal. Everyone can think what they want, but that’s how I see it,’ Lozano, who won bronze at the 1996 Olympics, told Radio Marca.
‘They were doing a training camp here at the Blume and we couldn’t put her [Khelif] with anyone.
‘We put her with Jennifer Fernandez and it hurt her. Whoever we put her with, it hurt her. We put her with Jose Quiles and they were equally matched. From my point of view I don’t see it as fair.’
In the wake of the controversy in the aftermath of Khelif’s win against Carini on Thursday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) hit out at the treatment directed towards the Algerian and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who also failed a gender eligibility test with the IBA.
‘The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years,’ the statement from the IOC read.
‘The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving. Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.’
Earlier this week, the IBA criticised the IOC’s decision to allow Khelif and Lin to compete in Paris, claiming that the decision to disqualify them was made in order to ‘protect’ women.
‘We absolutely do not understand why any organisation would put a boxer at risk with what could bring a potential serious injury within the ‘Field of Play’ (FOP),’ a statement from the IBA read.
‘The main role of the referee in the ring is to manage the boxer’s safety at all times. How is this reasonably practicable when a boxer fails to meet the eligibility criteria to compete?
‘The IBA will never support any boxing bouts between the genders, as the organisation puts the safety and well-being of our athletes first.
‘We are protecting our women and their rights to compete in the ring against equal rivals, and we will defend and support them in all instances; their hopes and dreams must never be taken away by organisations unwilling to do the right thing under difficult circumstances.’
.
.