Boxing, Olympics 2024: Suspended world body offers prize money to Italian pugilist amid gender row

The International Boxing Association has pledged to award prize money to Italy’s Angela Carini, whose 46-second 2024 Olympic Games defeat to an Algerian boxer at the centre of a gender eligibility row has left the sport on the ropes.

Carini stopped her fight against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after receiving two strong punches to the face, refused to shake hands with her opponent and then collapsed to the canvas sobbing.

But the bout sparked controversy as Khelif had been disqualified by the IBA during last year’s world championship after failing unspecified gender eligibility tests.

There is no suggestion that Khelif, who has fought on the women’s circuit for years, including in the Tokyo Olympics, identifies as anything other than a woman.

ALSO READ: Why Angela Carini abandoned her bout against Imane Khelif in 46 seconds

The International Olympic Committee cleared her to fight at the Paris Games as they use the gender stated on the passport as their criterion for eligibility.

Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting appear to be caught in the crossfire of a row between the IBA and the IOC, which ejected the boxing body from the Olympic movement after financial and ethical irregularities.

Referring to Carini’s reaction at the end of the bout, IBA President Umar Kremlev said: “I couldn’t look at her tears.

“I am not...

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