The gender controversy overshadowing the Paris Olympic boxing competition is set to continue with a second previously-banned fighter scheduled to compete this week. 

Algerian Imane Khelif forced Angela Carini to sensationally abandon her Olympic 66kg boxing bout after just 46 seconds on Thursday with the Italian saying post-fight that she needed to “safeguard her life”.

Kheli and Taiwan’s Lin Yu‑ting were disqualified from last year’s International Boxing Association (IBA)-run world championships after they failed a gender eligibility test and were deemed to have a competitive advantage.

Lin is set to take on Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in the 57kg class on Friday, while Kheli will fight a quarterfinal bout against Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori, who defeated Australia’s Marisa Williamson Pohlman.

Marissa Williamson’s loss means she avoids a rematch against Khelif, after losing to the Algerian earlier this year in the finals of the Eindhoven Cup.

Lin fought at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she lost in the round of 16. Photo: Getty

 While the findings of the 2023 IBA tests are unspecified, the sporting body did clarify that neither underwent testosterone examinations.

The IOC has since taken over from the IBA as boxing’s sanctioning body – ironically due to integrity concerns.

Both Lin and Kheli were born female, and under IOC criteria are free to compete in the women’s competition at Paris.

Carini’s headgear became dislodged twice by heavy punches before she quit and refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced.

The Italian cried in the ring before leaving.

“She felt pain in the nose and said to me, ‘I don’t want to fight more’,” her Italian coach Emanuele Renzini told reporters in broken English.

“People say, ‘Don’t go, it’s dangerous, she’s a man’. Maybe it’s this (why she quit),” he said.

Renzini and Italy’s boxing team leader Alberto Tappa were seen in discussion with IOC officials in the hours after Carini’s fight.

“We hope for the future that it will be more clear, for all the teams,” Tappa said of a conversation that stretched beyond the eligibility rules.

“We are not lucky (to draw Khelif), in the first bout, (but) you have to fight.

“The pressure … a lot of people from Italy said not to fight, to protest.”

Khelif dodged media as she briskly exited the arena, while Carini fought through tears to explain it was the injury, and not a protest, that forced her sudden abandonment.

Social media has been alive with users condemning the decision to allow Khelif to compete, many of them incorrectly identifying her as a man.

Lin, a dual Olympian like Khelif, won the IBA world championships in 2018 and 2022.

She was  stripped her of a bronze medal last year because the IBA claimed she failed to meet unspecified eligibility requirements in a biochemical test.

The IOC and Paris 2024 issued a joint statement Thursday condemning “misleading” reports about the gender of Khelif and Lin and labelling the abuse directed at them as “sad”.

“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU),” the statement said.

“As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.”

Despite multiple assertions on social media, Khefil (R) was born a girl. Photo: Facebook

The joint statement also clarified the “misleading” claims being made about the athletes.

“We have seen in reports misleading information about two [Khelif and Lin]” it said.

“The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.

“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.”

-with AAP