Imane Khelif breaks down in tears after dominating opponent in Olympic quarter-final fight

Imane Khelif of Algeria broke down in tears after outclassing Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori to progress to the semi-finals of the Olympics.

Khelif has been at the centre of a gender row at the Paris Olympics alongside Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting after both women failed unspecified gender tests at the World Championship last year.

The Algerian’s last opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, abandoned the round-of-16 bout after 46 seconds, claiming she had never been hit so hard.

Widespread controversy surrounding Khelif has forced the IOC to double down on her inclusion in the female event and president Thomas Bach held a press conference on Saturday to stress she was born and raised a woman.

Bach was critical of the abuse levelled at Khelif and the boxer appeared overcome with emotion following her victory on Saturday.

Khelif won her 66kg bout via unanimous decision and is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the Olympics regardless of what happens in her next fight against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng.

From the opening bell, Khelif established her lead hand early, keeping Hamori at bay with her jab and then catching her coming in with a crisp check left hook.

The Hungarian kept wading forward but was ultimately outboxed in the opener with all five judges scoring the round for Khelif.

In the second stanza, Khelif began to get into her rhythm as she jabbed and moved.

And by the halfway stage, Hamori was no longer fully committing to her shots as the elusive Algerian made her miss and made her pay.

Round three saw more of the same although Khelif was deducted a point for holding.

However, it didn’t make any difference to the result in the end with Khelif being scored the winner on all five judges’ scorecards.

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Khelif sobbed into her trainers’ arms as she left the ring.

The last few days have been extremely overwhelming for the 25-year-old, who has received waves of abuse online.

She became front-page news when the IOC confirmed her and Lin’s inclusion at the Olympics despite being excluded from the 2023 World Championships in New Dehli.

Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold medal bout after she failed to meet the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) unspecified eligibility criteria.

Meanwhile, Lin was stripped of her bronze medal at the same tournament.

IBA president Umar Kremlev said that DNA tests had proved they had ‘XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events’.

A statement from the IBA has since confirmed the pair ‘did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential’.

Transitioning is illegal in Algeria and Khelif was assigned female at birth and continues to identify as female.

Meanwhile, neither Khelif nor Lin identifies as transgender or intersex.

According to Focus Taiwan, Lin was the subject of further sex testing after returning home following the World Championships, which proved she was female.

Khelif’s father, Omar, confirmed that his daughter is a biological female and defended her following claims she shouldn’t be allowed to compete in the women’s event.

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“My child is a girl,” Omar said via Sky News. “She was raised as a girl. She’s a strong girl.

“I raised her to be hard-working and brave. She has a strong will to work and to train.

“The Italian opponent she faced was unable to defeat my daughter because my daughter was stronger and she was softer.”

The IOC suspended the IBA from running Olympic boxing in 2019 due to concerns over its finances, governance, ethics and officiating.

As of the Tokyo Olympics, the IOC has run Olympic boxing while the IBA was stripped of their status as the sport’s world governing body last year.

The IOC blamed the IBA for its “arbitrary” decision to disqualify Lin and Khelif last year and defended its decision to allow both boxers to compete in a lengthy statement.

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