The boxer who beat up Imane Khelif in the ring previously is opening up about her experience fighting with the Algerian star.
The Australian who goes by the name Anja Stridsman says she beat Khelif in 2019 and recalled all the details from that fight.
Khelif’s participation in this year’s women’s welterweight championship boxing class has sparked a lot of outrage online as many were surprised to learn she failed her IBA gender eligibility test last year.
Many assumed that she was a trans who the International Olympic Committee permitted to compete despite knowing the truth.
Now, the Aussie says she remembered fighting her so well and she’s not as strong as many presume her to be.
She shunned all the claims that she was a male and had the mighty force that only a male competitor could have.
‘For you and the world, she might be a man but for me, that’s not the case. Her hits and punches were similar to mine, if not weaker. She was not very strong at all’- the Aussie boxer added.
She did call the star from Algeria a little hot-headed but admitted that once you enter the sport, that’s how you become. Nothing was bizarre or peculiar about her skills, she continued.
The pair came head-to-head at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. She says that many did comment on her negatively, adding how they called her a man and praised me for beating a man. But that angered the Aussie as she said that this was not the case.
While she did admit that Khelif presented or appeared like a male nobody should be judging her based on her looks. ‘Let her appear like whoever she is and whoever she wants to be. It’s not our business’ – the star mentioned.