Boxing mismatch shows Olympic officials need to get a grip

The hugely controversial Olympic boxing bout between Italian Angela Carini and her opponent Imane Khelif from Algeria lasted just 46 seconds. After taking two punches from Khelif to the chin, Carini was forced to quit, saying she had done so ‘to save my life’. She said she had ‘never felt punches like it’, after sustaining a suspected broken nose. Carini sank to her knees in the centre of the ring and wept openly at having her Olympic dream shattered. ‘It’s not fair,’ she cried out. It is a damning charge that will go on to haunt these games.

Carini was hit by two savage punches from Khelif, and the force of the blows was so great that she immediately felt she was in serious danger. She revealed afterwards that she had pulled out after being hit harder than she had ever been hit before. A first punch dislodged her chin strap and a second smashed her chin.