THAI boxer Janjaem Suwannapheng is coming home with an Olympics bronze medal after losing to Algerian boxer Imane Khelif in the women’s welterweight semi-final fight with all five judges giving the latter every round, Naewna newspaper said early this morning (Aug. 7).
After the match Janjaem, 24, said she had planned to fight well but admitted that her opponent was faster and had a longer range of punches, making it impossible to reach her body.
“I don’t mind the gender thing, but I have to admit that she has got strong muscles and a very confident punch, she is always focused and looks sharp, more so than in India last year,” Janjaem said.
Khelif and the Chinese Taipei fighter Lin Yu-ting have come under intense scrutiny at these Games. Both fighters competed without incident at Tokyo 2020, but were disqualified from last year’s world championships at a late stage by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing to meet its gender eligibility criteria. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has cast doubts on the tests taken, calling the disqualifications “arbitrary”, while the IOC president Thomas Bach said the boxers had been subjected to “hate speech”, The Guardian newspaper said.
The Thai female boxer added that the important thing is that she had a chance to recover after the weigh-in in the morning because she slept in fits and starts and not soundly all night long.
She also said that she was excited to enter the boxing ring today as there was a large crowd of Algerian fans and it was like boxing in Khelif’s country.
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Janjaen Suwannapheng and Imane Khelif. Photo: Naewna
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