- Imane Khelif beat Janjaem Suwannapheng to secure a spot in the Olympic final
- The 25-year-old Algerian boxer won the fight by unanimous decision.
- Khelif will be guaranteed a medal at the 2024 Olympics this summer
Olympic gender rowing boxer Imane Khelif is one fight away from gold.
The Algerian, at the centre of a controversy that has dominated the Games, defeated Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng with another dominant performance in a one-sided semi-final at Roland Garros.
Khelif, 25, was banned from last year’s world championships by Russia’s governing body IBA after failing a gender test shortly before she was due to fight for a gold medal.
According to the IBA, which was stripped of the right to host boxing at the Games amid corruption and governance issues, she was found to have the male ‘XY’ chromosome.
However, no such testing has been carried out at the Games and eligibility is based on the sex listed on the participant’s passport.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif beat Janjaem Suwannapheng on points to secure a place in the Olympic final and guarantee herself a medal at the 2024 Games in Paris
The 25-year-old Algerian boxer won the fight (pictured above) by unanimous decision.
Khelif, who had a two-inch height advantage, was cheered on by a boisterous Algerian contingent and who has now won 12 straight bouts, will return to the tennis landmark, which has taken over from the North Paris Arena for the latter stages of boxing, on Friday night.
She outclassed her brave opponent, landed the harder punches and won easily with a unanimous verdict that will have done little to assuage those who say she should not be here.
The situation is likely to continue to cause headaches for IOC chiefs, who have been forced to defend Khelif’s presence in Paris on an almost daily basis.
The second boxer to fail a gender test in the same competition, Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting, fights her semi-final tonight (Wednesday) against Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman.