>>>ANSA/Olympics: Carini abandons bout against Khelif

(ANSA) - PARIS, AUG 1 - Premier Giorgia Meloni and JK Rowling were among those to express support on Thursday for Italy's Angela Carini after she abandoned her controversial bout in the women's boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics against Imane Khelif, an Algerian who was disqualified from last year's world championships for failing gender-eligibility tests.
    The 25-year-old from Naples stopped fighting seconds into round of 16 women's welterweight (under 66kg) contest and fell to her knees and wept after Khelif was declared the winner. Italian government ministers and Italian Olympic Committee CONI had expressed concern about whether it was safe and fair for Carini to be pitched against Khelif before the fight.
    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has used a different set of rules for admission to the Paris 2024 tournament than those for the world championships and has also allowed Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu‑ting to compete after she was banned from the 2023 world championships too.
    "I got into the ring to fight," said Carini "I didn't give up, but one punch hurt too much and so I said enough.
    "I'm going out with my head held high," she added.
    Coach Emanuele Renzini stressed that quitting the match was not planned in advance.
    "It would have been easier not to show up, because all of Italy had been asking her not to fight for days," Renzini said.
    "But Angela was motivated and wanted to do it.
    "Of course when she met her opponent at the draw, she said 'it's not fair'.
    "But there was no premeditation here today.
    "She quit after taking one punch, she told me she didn't feel she could fight".
    Meloni said that "it was not a fair contest.
    "I have been trying to explain for years that, when taken to the extreme, some theses risk impacting women's rights," Meloni said at Team Italy's Casa Italia headquarters at the Olympics.
    "I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women's competitions.
    "Not because we want to discriminate against anyone, but in order to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms" Rowling said Carini suffered a "brutal injustice".
    "A young female boxer has just had everything she's worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her," the Harry Potter author said via X.
    "You're a disgrace, your 'safeguarding' is a joke and #Paris24 will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini.
    "Could any picture sum up our new men's rights movement better? The smirk of a male who's knows he's protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he's just punched in the head, and whose life's ambition he's just shattered".
    AC Milan and Algeria midfielder Ismael Bennacer. meanwhile.
    expressed solidarity for his compatriot.
    "Total support for our champion Imane Khelif, who is suffering a wave of unjustified hatred," Bennacer said via social media.
    "Your presence at the Olympic Games is simply the result of your talent and work ethic.
    "We believe in you to take Algeria's colours to the top".
    On Wednesday, Rosario Coco, the president of the Gaynet communications association, said there was no evidence that reports Khelif is transgender are true "In contrast to the reports that have been circulating, the Algerian athlete Imane Khelif is not a trans woman," said Coco.
    "From the information we have about her, she is an intersex person, who has always socialized as a woman and has a sporting history in women's competitions". (ANSA).