Imane Khelif requires finish to ‘bullying’ and targets gold medal at Paris Olympics amid gender row

Imane Khelif has known as for an finish to “bullying” after the Algerian boxer assured herself an Olympic medal amid an ongoing gender row.

Khelif is thru to the ladies’s 66kg semis after beating Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, securing Algeria’s first boxing medal since 2000 and their first in girls’s boxing.

She faces Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng within the semi-finals on Tuesday, however has been within the highlight since her opening bout because of an eligibility row that has dominated headlines and sparked on-line abuse.

Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting are each allowed to participate within the Olympics, with the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) adopting totally different standards to the Worldwide Boxing Affiliation (IBA) who disqualified each from final yr’s World Championships as a result of outcomes of an unspecified eligibility take a look at.

“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif instructed SNTV in Arabic.

“It could actually destroy individuals, it could actually kill individuals’s ideas, spirit and thoughts. It could actually divide individuals. And due to that, I ask them to chorus from bullying.

“I am in contact with my family two days a week. I hope that they weren’t affected deeply. They are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best response.”

She expressed gratitude to the Worldwide Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, for his or her continued assist.

“I know that the Olympic Committee has done me justice, and I am happy with this remedy because it shows the truth,” she mentioned.

Taiwan’s Lin, 28, will face Turkey’s Esra Yildiz in her semi-final following a unanimous-decision win over Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria within the 57kg class.

Earlier than the scorecards had been learn out Staneva did a double XX gesture and pointed to herself. The feminine chromosome is XX. Staneva then appeared to stroll previous Lin however after the referee introduced the choice and lifted Lin’s hand because the winner, Staneva went over and sat on the rope on her opponent’s aspect and opened the rope for Lin to step out.

Lin mentioned: “I know all of Taiwan’s people are standing behind me and supporting me, and I will carry this energy to the end. Even though I won this match doesn’t mean I can relax, I still need to work hard.”

In a press release launched after the battle in assist of Lin, the Taiwan Olympic Committee mentioned it was “already clear” that the boxer was eligible for the Paris Olympics on the premise of the IOC’s guidelines.

“The delegation stands firmly by the athlete with full support and strongly condemns the malicious online abuse and personal attacks and calls for an immediate stop on those behaviours,” it mentioned.

Adams: ‘Utter garbage’ misinformation should cease

IOC spokesman Mark Adams has known as for a cease to the unfold of misinformation throughout social media that has resulted in each athletes going through on-line abuse.

“We feel these women have been targeted, particularly on social media, they’ve been subject to death threats, we feel strongly about that to remind people this is absolutely not a transgender issue,” Adams instructed Sky Sports activities Information.

“These girls had been born as ladies, they had been registered as feminine, they’ve feminine passports, they’ve competed for the previous six or seven years in senior competitions, they’ve gained bouts and misplaced bouts as girls.

“For us it’s important we give them support, particularly at the moment, if anybody would put themselves in the position of those two athletes who are being ridiculed and attacked with death threats, simply because of a test which came from a discredited federation which wanted to change the results of a bout, this is not acceptable.

“That is why we get indignant. In fact we wish honest bouts, however we additionally need individuals to have the precise to compete pretty and with out harassment.”

Adams reiterated the IOC’s belief that the IBA, who disqualified the two fighters from the World Championships in 2023, should not be trusted.

“They have no authority as a result of there are governance points, finance points,” he said. “You solely should lookup the president of this organisation, Mr [Umar] Kremlev [IBA president], attention-grabbing title and attention-grabbing hyperlinks, you solely should see the movies he’s posting, that are explosive and aggressive, to see why they shouldn’t be trusted or listened to.

“We suspended them and eventually banned them because they are not good for the sport, they are not in it for the athletes and we need somebody who encourages other people, we need a new international federation.”

Adams has urged for “sensible conversations about a difficult subject” to stop the abuse of athlete rights and additional humiliation brought on by misinformation.

He says the IOC has ensured each athletes are being supported amid the row of eligibility.

“Our safeguarding teams have been in touch with both athletes, it’s very tough,” he defined. “Imagine for the Algerian boxer, coming from a more conservative society and having to deal with this global pile-on from people who don’t know facts about something and are saying it’s a man fighting a woman.

“That is utter garbage and must be stopped, we have to talk about the problems like adults. It isn’t a straightforward situation, there is not a black and white reply.

“As the president of the IOC said yesterday if somebody can find a medical consensus of what is a man and what is a woman, we are happy to work with them.

“Till then now we have conflicting concepts, now we have to work with what now we have until all people needs to return to intercourse testing.”

‘I’m a girl’ – Khelif emotional as boxers embrace

“There was real respect between the boxers,” mentioned Sky Sports activities Information’ reporter Geraint Hughes. “Before the fight, between every round and at the end, they touched gloves.

“Khelif grew to become very emotional as she was leaving the ring. She went into an space to talk to journalists – she solely spoke to 1, I perceive, after which shouted to a different: ‘I’m a girl’.”

Speaking afterwards, Hamori said: “I feel it was battle. I am so pleased with myself and I am so grateful to be right here. This was an excellent competitors for me, that was my childhood dream. I am so glad.

“I wish good luck to my opponents and the others in the finals and I’m so thankful for my coaches, the Hungarian team, for my family and for everybody who gave me some support so thank you everyone.”

Khelif’s father speaks out as IOC chief faces press

The father of Khelif defended his daughter forward of her newest win, telling Sky Information: “My child is a girl. 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.”

IOC president Thomas Bach insisted on Saturday there was “never any doubt” that Khelif and Yu-ting are girls.

“Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach mentioned. “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.”