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“Italian Could not Beat My Lady As a result of…”: Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif’s Father Speaks Up Amid Controversy At Olympics

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Paris Olympics 2024: File photograph of Imane Khelif vs Italian Angela Carini match.© AFP




Algerian boxer Imane Khelif finds herself in the midst of a significant gender controversy on the Paris Olympics 2024. Khelif, who was disqualified from final 12 months’s world championships after failing gender eligibility checks, was accredited by Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete within the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024. Her opening bout with Italian opponent Angela Carini that lasted solely 46 seconds has put her gender controversy into limelight, as soon as once more. The subject has change into so large that even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took to X to condemned the choice to permit Khelif to compete on the Paris Video games. (Paris Olympics Medals Tally)

Amid the continuing controversy, Imane’s father Omar Khelif has defended his daughter, claiming that she is a woman.

“My baby is a woman. She was raised as a woman. She’s a robust woman. I raised her to be hard-working and courageous. She has a robust will to work and to coach,” stated Omar Khelif informed Sky News.

Whereas speaking in regards to the bout between Imane and Angela that lasted for less than 46 seconds, Omar stated, “The Italian opponent she confronted was unable to defeat my daughter as a result of my daughter was stronger and she or he was softer.”

The problem has been sophisticated by boxing’s governance construction — the IOC seized management of the administration of the programme from the Worldwide Boxing Affiliation (IBA) due to issues about the best way the physique operated the game.

Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting’s participation in Paris Olympics can be questioned as she was additionally disqualified by IBA throughout final the Girls’s Boxing Championships final 12 months.

Worldwide Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach condemned the social media response to Khelif and Lin, with some together with former US president Donald Trump framing the problem as males combating in opposition to ladies.

“All people in our world apparently feels obliged to say every part about every part with out actually contemplating the generally very complicated circumstances,” the German stated.

Bach stated anybody questioning the 2 boxers ought to “provide you with a scientific-based new definition of who’s a lady and the way can somebody who’s born, raised, competing and having a passport as a lady can’t be thought-about a lady”.

(With AFP Inputs)

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