UFC women's flyweight Ariane Lipski reacted to the controversy surrounding Imane Khelif's Olympic boxing win over Angela Carini.
Earlier today, the focus of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France shifted from gold medal moments to rules and regulations surrounding sexual orientation. The backlash started when Algeria's Khelif made Italy's Carini quit in less than a minute of their women's 66kg boxing match in the round of 16.
Carini was hit with a clean punch by Khelif and immediately decided to forfeit. People quickly turned their attention to the Algerian boxer's background, which sparked worldwide controversy about her eligibility.
Khelif was disqualified from last year's Women's World Boxing Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) due to a failed gender eligibility test. Despite being born a woman, the 25-year-old Khelif reportedly has Differences of Sex Development (DSDs), where females can be born with XY sex chromosomes.
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Therefore, many people believe that Khelif shouldn't be allowed to compete in female combat sports. As for Lipski, she reacted to the footage of Carini crying due to her loss by saying this on X:
"We woman fought for our space in martial arts for so long and now that’s happening! It’s so sad!"
Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan is also facing controversy, as she was also disqualified from last year's Women's World Boxing Championships.
The backlash toward Lin hasn't reached the same level as Khelif because she received a first-round bye and will fight in the Olympics for the first time on Aug. 2.
When is Imane Khelif's next Olympic boxing match?
Imane Khelif's win against Angela Carini punched her ticket to the quarterfinals of the women's 66kg tournament. The controversial boxer's next fight is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3. She faces Hungary's Luca Anna Hamori, who's fought and won twice at the Olympics.
Hamori has been asked about the controversy surrounding her upcoming opponent. The Hungarian said she's blocking out the noise and focusing on her journey to becoming an Olympic gold medalist.
It should be noted that Khelif has fought in the Olympics before this year. In 2020, the Algerian boxer competed in Tokyo and lost in the quarterfinals.