ANGELA CARINI has revealed why she quit her controversial fight against Imane Khelif.
The Italian fought her opponent, who previously failed a gender test, for just 46 seconds before throwing in the towel.
Carini, 25, was hit twice in the face in round one and after the first blow she walked over to her corner to seemingly have her chin strap adjusted.
But after Khelif, 25, landed a second powerful blow, the fight was abruptly over.
Carini then refused to acknowledge and shake hands with the Algerian after the referee announced the winner of the 66kg welterweight bout.
She then fell to her knees and began to cry.
Khelif presence at the Olympics has been deemed controversial as she was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
The International Olympic Committee said Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
She is one of two athletes cleared to compete in Paris along with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who was stripped of a bronze medal at the World Champs for failing a gender eligibility test.
Opening up on her decision to quit, Carini said via an Italian journalist translating the answers: “I have never ever felt a punch like this.
“I am a warrior but preferred to stop for my health.
“I went to the ring to honour my father.
“I am heartbroken. I have big pain in my nose and blood on my finger.”
On Khelif’s inclusion in the Games, Carini added: “The decision was with the Olympics rather than me, whether this opponent should fight.”
Italy‘s family minister Eugenia Roccella and sports minister Andrea Abodi raised concerns about eligibility rules prior to today’s bout.
But the Algerian Olympic Committee had defended Khelif’s participation.
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had ‘XY chromosomes’ — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare ‘intersex’ medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have ‘male’ chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations”.
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
