Algerian boxer Imane Khleif has silenced all of her doubters by winning the woman’s welterweight gold medal against China’s Yang Liu.
Khelif secured a unanimous decision victory as a large Algerian crowd at the renowned Roland-Garros Stadium cheered her on with chants of “allez Imane” and “1, 2, 3 Algérie!”
After her historic win Khelif exclaimed “I want to thank all the people here,” she said pointing into the stands, “and the people of Algeria to come support me, my coach and Team Algeria.”
All five judges had it 10-9 for Khelif in each round, showing that there was a clear winner despite neither Khelif or Liu being able to stop their opponent.
Khelif has been fighting under a cloud of questions and criticism over her gender afer her dominant 46 second win over Italy’s Anglea Carini, with many far-right politicians and influencers demanding for Khelif to be disqualified for thinking she was a man.
About her attacks, Khelif had this to say “We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, and I hope that we will not see any similar attacks in future Olympics,”
#MaltaDaily