Angela Carini to be awarded prize money by IBA despite Olympic loss to Imane Khelif

The International Boxing Association (IBA) will award Italy’s Angela Carini, who lost her Olympics welterweight round-of-16 bout against Algerian Imane Khelif at Paris 2024, $50,000 in prize money, it has announced.

Carini pulled out in the first round against the Algerian after just 46 seconds on Thursday, with Carini at the heart of a gender row and absorbing several clean shots.

The IBA, which was stripped of its international recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, said Carini would receive $50,000, her federation a further $25,000 and her coach an additional $25,000.

“I do not understand why they killed women’s boxing,” IBA President Umar Kremlev said. “Only eligible athletes should compete in the ring for the sake of safety. I could not look at her tears.

“I am not indifferent to such situations, and I can assure that we will protect each boxer. Only eligible athletes should compete in the ring for the sake of safety.”

Kremlev also said that the IBA will support Sitora Turdibekova, following the Uzbekistan fighter’s loss to Lin Yu-ting from Chinese Taipei, who was also deemed ineligible by the IBA back in 2023.

Algeria’s Khelif, and Taiwan double world champion Lin, were cleared to compete in Paris despite being disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after failing IBA eligibility rules.

The IOC last year stripped the IBA of its status as boxing’s governing body over governance issues, and took charge of the Paris 2024 boxing competition itself, but now finds itself at the centre of a row over the pair’s participation.

Welterweight Khelif next takes on Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori.

The IOC said the IBA decision to disqualify the boxers last year was arbitrary.

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who met IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday.

Some sports have limited the levels of testosterone allowed for athletes participating in women’s competition.

Differences of Sexual Disorder (DSD) are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range.

The IOC said the rules of eligibility were based on those of the Tokyo Games in 2021 and could not be changed during a competition.

Additional reporting from Reuters