Imane Khelif befuddled China's Yang Liu in the Olympic welterweight final, taking gold for Algeria via three-round unanimous decision at Roland Garros in Paris on Friday. All five judges gave the new champion every round.
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Khelif, as has been the case throughout the tournament, used adept lateral movement and stinging shots from the outside to keep her opponent at bay. Southpaw Yang did her best to press the attack, but she couldn’t make a serious impression.
The jab and a sharp right hand were signature shots in the opening round. It was noticeable that Khelif immediately adapted to her opponent’s southpaw stance, jabbing effortlessly over the top of Yang’s lead right hand and moving off to the right.
Yang put forth a much better effort in round two, pushing Khelif back and letting her hands go. However, despite the success she was made to pay coming in with some sharp counters, and a round that could have gone either way again went to the Algerian.
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Notified by her team that she’d lost another round, Yang appeared disheartened at the beginning of round three. She forced the action again as the seconds ticked away, but Khelif knew victory was hers and boxed nicely on the backfoot.
This is an incredible achievement for Khelif, who has not only defeated a string of world-class operators but has also overcome a litany of hate speech and discrimination throughout the tournament. The reward for all of that is gold for her country.
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