Lovlina assures India of first boxing medal at Tokyo Olympics
Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) assured India of their first boxing medal at the ongoing Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion, Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei, to enter the semifinals on Friday. The 23-year-old Assam boxer prevailed 4-1 to make the last-four where she will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.
Borgohain displayed tremendous counter-attacking game
Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medalist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past. She was aggressive to start with, followed it up with a tremendous counter-attacking game and kept her defense tight in the final three minutes to emerge triumphant.
Borgohain couldn't hide her emotions after the win
The youngster, who was laid low by COVID-19 last year and missed a training trip to Europe because of it, let out a huge scream after the referee raised her hand, pent-up emotions finally getting the better of her. India's previous boxing medals have come through Vijender Singh (2008) and MC Mary Kom (2012). Both of them had won a bronze.
