Tokyo Olympics: Presenting the journey of boxer Lovlina Borgohain
Boxer Lovlina Borgohain has assured India of a second medal in the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She overcame former world champion Chen Nien-Chin in the quarter-final of the women's welterweight event. She is set to become only the third Indian boxer after Mary Kom and Vijender Singh to win a medal in boxing at the Olympics. Here, we present Lovlina's journey.
Lovlina won two consecutive World Championships
Borgohain, who hails from Golaghat, Assam, was born on October 2, 1997. She won back-to-back bronze medals in the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. She then secured an Olympic quota in March 2020. Lovlina became the first sportswoman from Assam to qualify for the Olympics. In 2020, she became the sixth person from Assam to receive the Arjuna award.
Lovlina started as a kickboxer
Lovlina has two elder sisters, who competed at the national level in kickboxing. Notably, Lovlina too started as a kickboxer. After she switched to boxing, she was noticed by Padum Boro, who started coaching her in 2012.
Other achievements of Lovlina
Lovlina won a gold medal at the first India Open international boxing tournament held in New Delhi. She was selected to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games welterweight boxing category, wherein she lost in the quarter-finals. Lovlina won a bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in Vietnam in November 2017. She also won bronze at the President's Cup held in Astana in June 2017.
Lovlina won bronze at Women's World Boxing Championship in 2018
Lovlina represented India for the first time at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship held in New Delhi in November 2018. She won a bronze medal in the welterweight (69 kg) category. A year later, she got selected for her second Women's World Boxing Championships in Russia, without trials. Lovlina once again settled for bronze after losing to China's Yang Liu.
Lovlina secured the Olympics berth in 2020
In 2020, Lovlina earned the Olympics berth with a 5-0 win over Maftunakhon Melieva at the Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification tournament. With this, she became the first-ever sportswoman from Assam to qualify for the Olympics. Lovlina finished with a bronze medal, having lost 0-5, in a unanimous verdict, to the 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships silver-medalist Gu Hong of China.
