Paris: Khelif says won as woman

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 10 - An Algerian welterweight boxer who failed a gender eligibility test at last year's world championships and who caused controversy at the Paris Olympics after Italy's Angela Carini pulled out a few seconds into their last 16 bout saying she feared for her life after taking two powerful punches said after winning the gold Friday night that she had won as a woman.
    The defeat to Imane Khelif, 25, who is reportedly biologically male but has female physical attributes, and has lost to nine women in the past, led Premier Giorgia Meloni to tell Carini she would one day find success in a "fair" fight.
    "I qualified in my own right to participate in these Games," said the hyperandrogynous boxer after beating Chinese Liu Yang on points in the final at Roland Garros.
    "I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman. I lived as a woman. I competed as a woman, and there is no doubt about that." Speaking to the BBC, she said that with her gold she sent a "unique message": that her "dignity and honour are above all else".
    She said her victory podium photo was "the best photo of my life".
    She added: "I don't know why there has been so much hatred against me".
    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that Khelif is a woman, and Paris crowds rallied to her after she was initially criticised following the Carini bout. (ANSA).