Angela Carini, the Italian boxer who abandoned her Olympic fight against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after 46 seconds, says she “wants to apologise” to her opponent for how she handled the aftermath.
Khelif is one of two athletes authorised to compete in women’s boxing in Paris after being disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility requirements.
The 25-year-old’s presence in the Games has sparked controversy, prompting the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to defend her right to compete.
“All this controversy makes me sad,” Carini told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”
Carini, 25, said abandoning the bout was a mature decision, but she regretted not shaking hands with Khelif afterward.
“It wasn’t something I intended to do,” Carini said. “Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.”
Furthermore, she added that if she met Khelif again, she would “embrace her.”.
Carini walked to the corner after suffering a punch to the face in less than 30 seconds during Thursday’s fight to have her helmet fixed. After briefly resuming, she retreated to her corner and ended the battle.
“It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life in that moment,” Carini later told BBC Sport.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association (IBA), which carried out the tests last year, said Khelif “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations.”.
Khelif has always competed in the women’s division, and the IOC recognises her as a female athlete.
“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, and has a female passport,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said on Friday.
Later on Friday, IBA President Umar Kremlev said that the body would award Carini $100,000 (£78,000), the same amount as the reward money for gold medallists in the Games. That money would be divided as follows: half would go to the boxer, one quarter to her trainer, and one quarter to the federation.
