ROME -- Before the first punch was pulled at the Arena Paris Nord, Angela Carini looked ready to take on the world. In the blue corner, she clapped her gloves together and, with a steely look at her opponent, marched into the centre of the ring on the toll of the bell. But just 46 seconds later, Carini decided she could not continue.

 In bizarre circumstances in the women’s 66kg fight, the Italian abandoned her match-up against Imane Khelif, who progresses into the quarter-finals. Nothing seemed to be particularly wrong with Carini, even after 30 seconds when the 25-year-old welterweight returned to her coach to re-align her headgear. But after briefly resuming the fight, she quickly pulled the plug.

 Carini, who spoke tearfully to the media, later explained she abandoned the fight after receiving a painful blow to the nose. The match should have been judged as an unfortunate outcome for the Italian and a sidenote to the rest of the day’s Olympic stories. And yet, it has since escalated into a toxic row within both boxing and Italian politics.

 Carini’s opponent, the Algerian Khelif, has been at the centre of a dispute over her inclusion at the Paris Olympics. The International Boxing Association (IBA) had called for Khelif to be excluded after her disqualification from the 2023 World Championships. The IBA has argued that Khelif, along with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, did not meet eligibility criteria when undergoing testosterone tests in 2023 and concluded the athletes “were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”

 Given the boxing events at the Olympics are run by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IBA has no stipulation to enforce Khelif’s disqualification. The IOC has defended the Algerian’s inclusion.

 Mark Adams, a spokesperson for the IOC, reiterated that Khelif has proven her eligibility and meets the competition’s regulations. “[Khelif and Lin] have competed and continue to compete in the women’s competition. They have lost and they have won against other women over the years.”

 “These athletes have competed many times before for many years,” he later added. “They haven’t just suddenly arrived.”

 With athletes being drugs tested during the games, neither Khelif nor Lin have been found guilty of doping. Both boxers also previously competed at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo without controversy. Contrary to misreporting, Khelif is not a transgender athlete and does not identify as intersex. But sport is still showing its intolerance.

 Carini’s refusal to shake her opponent’s hand has added to the Algerian’s vilification, even if the Italian insisted she did not have a problem with Khelif. “I’m not someone to judge and I don’t have anything against my opponent.”

 While hundreds of social media users have expressed misguided outrage at Carini’s predicament, few have stood up for Khelif, who is now having her identity and credentials questioned on a global scale.

 Amy Broadhurst, the Irish boxer who beat Khelif en route to winning the 2022 World Championships, was one of the few voices to defend the Algerian’s inclusion. Writing on X, the boxer said, “Personally, I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’. I think it’s the way she was born and that’s out of her control. The fact that she has been beating [sic] by 9 females says it all.”

 If critics are suggesting Khelif is too violent for other female opponents, are we suggesting female boxing is a harmless sport? That is far from the reality. In 2021, Miriam Gutierrez shared graphic images of her injuries after fighting Amanda Serrano. In 2022, bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges was hospitalised with a hand injury, picked up in a fight against Shannon O’Connell, which required surgery. In 2023, French lightweight champion Maiva Hamadouche ended her career after picking up a debilitating eye injury.

 The incident has been grossly overblown and the idea that Khelif forced Carini to quit is wide of the mark. Emanuele Renzini, the Italian’s coach, also admitted his boxer had been troubled in the build-up which influenced her withdrawal. “She was taking antibiotics and we thought that was the problem.”

 Carini’s withdrawal, however, has become an excuse for Italy’s political figures to push forward their limiting views on gender identity. Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, was quick to demonstrate her discontent at Khelif’s inclusion.

 “It’s a fact that with those levels of testosterone in the blood of [Khelif], the fight doesn’t seem an equal fight.”

 “I think we need to be careful, in our attempts to not discriminate, that we are discriminating. I’ve been trying to explain for years that extreme theories impact on women’s rights.”

 The reality, however, is that Meloni’s government has long intended to exclude those who do not conform to her ideals of gender or sexuality. In May, Meloni refused to sign an EU declaration that would guarantee LGBTQ+ rights, with her Brothers of Italy party previously voting against the Zan Bill, which would have criminalised hate crimes on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.

 There is also an element of hypocrisy in Meloni’s so-called efforts to preserve women’s rights. At this year’s G7, her hard-right government denied it had tried to remove references to abortion from the final summit declaration. Italy’s Family Minister, Eugenia Roccella, has also claimed abortion is not a right, but a choice.

 Today, Italy should have been celebrating its sporting triumphs, including golds for Giovanni De Gennaro in the canoe slalom and Alice Bellandi in the women’s 78 kg judo final. Bellandi’s celebrations were even more poignant as she kissed her partner Jasmine in elation. Italy should be celebrating this reminder of inclusion and community in all its forms. Instead, it has decided to wage a culture war which has the potential to become much more dangerous.