Imane Khelif’s extraordinary Olympic Games still has one round left to run. At a wild, steamy, increasingly unbound Roland Garros, Algeria’s fifth seed outclassed Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand to win the women’s 66kg semi-final bout and set up a final against Yang Liu of China on Friday.
This was a startling event in so many ways, in large part here because of its exuberantly Algerian tone. The snaking queue outside Roland Garros in the hours before this evening round of Olympic boxing had been heavily stacked with Algerian flags and football shirts. Centre court, reconfigured into a breathtaking boxing area, was similarly decked with the red and green.
