By Aadi Nair
PARIS (Reuters) -The storm over the participation of Algeria boxer Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics overshadowed the sixth day of the women’s competition on Thursday when Busenaz Surmeneli and Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey got off to winning starts.
Khelif, who has been in the spotlight for failing a gender eligibility test at a tournament last year, progressed to the welterweight quarter-finals after Italian opponent Angela Carini abandoned the bout after 46 seconds.
Carini later explained that she had decided not to fight after feeling intense pain in her nose. Khelif will next face Hungarian Luca Anna Hamori in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Reigning welterweight champion Surmeneli, who clinched Turkey’s first boxing gold in Tokyo, is one fight away from ensuring another medal after her 4-1 win over Poland’s Aneta Rygielska.
The European Games and twice world champion had a poor second round, but clinched the win after finishing ahead on every judge’s scorecard in the third round.
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and former world champion Cakiroglu was even more dominant in her 5-0 win over Mexican Fatima Herrera, controlling the fight from the first bell to set up a quarter-final clash with Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-oja.
Erislandy Alvarez beat Bunjong Sinsiri of Thailand in a lightweight quarter-final to ensure Cuba’s first medal of the tournament.
“I have risen to the highest level and what I want is that gold medal now,” Alvarez said.
In Thursday’s opening bout, Asian Games and world champion Wu Yu of China was a class above her Indian opponent Nikhat Zareen, landing a number of devastating blows to score a unanimous win in the flyweight bout.
“This is my first Olympics. I want to enjoy it. This is my biggest stage,” Wu said.
“I want to go all the way. This is the first time I’ve met so many people. I’ve been to the World Championships before. There were a lot of spectators, but not as many as this. I was very excited.”
Wu’s compatriot Chang Yuan beat Bulgarian Stanimira Petrova in a bantamweight quarter-final, while in the men’s lightweight category, Wyatt Sanford ensured Canada’s first boxing medal since 1996 with a 4-1 win over Ruslan Abdullaev of Uzbekistan.
Ireland had another day to forget as flyweight Daina Moorehouse was beaten on a split decision by local hope Wassila Lkhadiri, before heavyweight Jack Marley was outclassed by Asian Games champion Davlat Boltaev.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris and Alison Williams)
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