Just 46 seconds into her match against Khelif, Italy’s Angela Carini exited the ring

Imane Khelif of Team Algeria on Aug. 1, 2024. Photo: Richard Pelham/Getty

The Paris Summer Olympics boxing match between Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Italy’s Angela Carini came to an early and unexpected end when Carini bowed out after being hit.

Just 46 seconds into her Thursday, Aug. 1 match against Khelif, 25-year-old Carini exited the ring, according to the Associated Press and Reuters. It happened after Carini exchanged punches with the Algerian boxer and then burst into tears and fell to her knees.

Carini, visibly upset and dealing with her headgear being dislodged during the short fight, didn’t shake Khelif’s hand after the winner had been announced, the outlet reported.

Per the AP, Khelif was disqualified during the 2023 boxing world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test. The International Boxing Association (IBA) claimed that the results showed elevated levels of testosterone, with the matter becoming a divisive issue for the 25-year-old boxer ahead of the Summer Games.

From left: Imane Khelif and Angela Carini on Aug. 1, 2024. MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty

Following Khelif being declared the winner, Carini spoke after the match and said that her reasoning for quitting the fight was due to the extreme pain she felt in her nose after being hit by Khelif in the opening seconds of the fight.

“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said, per the AP and Reuters.

Carini further added that she was not refusing to continue to fight Khelif based on gender issues nor was she making a political statement by bowing out.

Speaking on whether Khelif should be allowed to fight, Carini said: “I am not here to judge or pass judgment. If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide. I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometer.”

Imane Khelif on Aug. 1, 2024. Fabio Bozzani/Anadolu via Getty

Per the AP, on Wednesday, July 31, the Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement condemning what it said were “lies” about Khelif’s gender identity and slammed the allegations as “unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”

Due to backlash and intense criticism, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended the Khelif’s right to compete at the Games, as Olympic boxing reached gender parity for the first time with an equal number of men and women competing, the AP reported.

Hours following the win, Khelif reacted on Instagram. “Elhamdolilah 🤲☝️first Victory,” the boxer posted.

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