Olympics: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif in semis, guaranteed bronze amid right-wing 'gender row'

The Algerian boxer targeted by an online hate campaign on her gender spearheaded by the likes of J.K. Rowling is guaranteed at least bronze at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, bursting into tears after winning her quarter-final.

Imane Khelif, who has found herself in the eye of a global storm along with another boxer from Taiwan, beat Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori with a unanimous points decision to reach the semi-finals of the women's 66kg category.

The duo embraced at the end, before the judges' verdict was delivered, and an animated Khelif left the ring in tears.

Losing semi-finalists in the boxing take home bronze.

Some of the crowd at North Paris Arena, where there were a large number of Algerians, chanted Khelif's name ahead of the bout and cheered her into the ring.

Hamori, who had made inflammatory posts regarding Khelif on her personal social media pages, was booed into the venue but was magnanimous in defeat.

Khelif faces Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand in the last four on Tuesday for a place in the final.

"This is a matter of dignity and honour for every woman or female," the 25-year-old Khelif told BeIN Sports after a second dominant victory in Paris, having dismantled her opening opponent in 46 seconds.

"The entire Arab people have known me for years. For years I have been boxing in international federation competitions, they (IBA) were unfair with me. But I have God."

Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting can also guarantee herself at least a bronze medal on Sunday when she faces Bulgaria's Svetlana Staneva in the quarter-finals of the women's 57kg.

Khelif and Lin were disqualified from last year's world championships, run by the International Boxing Association (IBA), after failing gender eligibility tests. The IBA, however, is no longer recognised by the IOC amid corruption allegations, and Russia links.

The controversy ignited on Thursday when Khelif's Italian opponent Angela Carini abandoned the match after 46 seconds, and burst into tears soon after. 

Carini, claimed her nose was badly hurt and was distressed, collapsed to the centre of the ring in tears.

Khelif and Lin, 28, both competed at the Tokyo Games three years ago, where they failed to win a medal.

They were then disqualified from the IBA's 2023 world championships.

The IBA said this week that the two boxers "did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential".

The IOC has leapt to the defence of Khelif and Lin, with president Thomas Bach on Saturday saying they were born and raised as women, and have passports saying that.

Neither boxer is known to identify as anything other than female.

Khelif's father Omar told AFP from their Algerian village: "My child is a girl."

"She was raised as a girl. She is a strong girl - I raised her to work and be brave."