The Untold Story of Lovlina Borgohain: India’s Bronze Medalist in Women’s Welterweight Boxing Event at Tokyo 2020
Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain signed off Tokyo Olympics with a bronze medal after losing the semifinal bout to top seed Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey via unanimous decision today.
Lovlina Borgohain loses to Busenaz Sürmeneli of Turkey 0-5 in women’s welterweight (64-69kg) semifinal match which brings an end to India’s campaign in boxing at Tokyo Olympics 2020. With a bronze medal Lovlina Borgohain became only the third Indian boxer after Vijender Singh and Mary Kom to win an Olympic medal.
Earlier, Lovlina had a tough Round of 16 where she had beaten Germany’s Nadine Apetz via split decision. Thereafter, in the quarterfinal, Lovlina defeated Chinese Taipei’s Nien – Chin Chen by 4-1 and reached the semis. With Lovlina’s bronze medal India’s medal tally at Tokyo Olympics 2020 now stands with 3 medals which include 1 silver and 2 bronze medals.
Who is Lovlina Borgohain?
Lovlina Borgohain is an Indian boxer who hails from the Golaghat district of Assam. Her father Tiken Borgohain is a small scale businessman who had struggled financially to support his daughter’s ambitions. Her mother name is Mamoni Borgohain. Her elder twin sisters Licha and Lima had also competed at the national level at kickboxing but did not pursue it beyond that.
Following in the footsteps of her sister, Lovlina too began her career in kickboxing but she switched to amateur boxing after she met with her first coach Padum Boro who worked at the Sports Authority of India’s Shillong and Dimapur centers. Lovlina was noticed and selected by Padum Boro and Coach Abhishek Malviya at SAI STC Guwahati from 2012 to learn the basics of boxing.
Lovlina’s biggest breakthrough came through when she represented India at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Welterweight Boxing Category. However, her announcement was the subject of controversy after it was found that she did not receive any official intimation about her selection. Interestingly, she found about her selection after the story broke out at a major media outlet.
Although she lost her quarterfinal match at CWG 2018, but she gained precious lessons from that match, which had helped immensely in her career. For the unversed Lovlina was selected in Commonwealth Games due to her brilliant performance at the inaugural India open – an international boxing Championship held in February 2018 where she had won a gold medal. Earlier she had also won the bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championship in Vietnam and the bronze medal at the President’s Cup held in Astana in 2017.
Notably,After Commonwealth Games, Lovlina made a strong comeback and went on to win a silver medal at the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia in June 2018 and a bronze medal at the 13th International Silesian Championship in Poland in September 2018. Lovlina represented India at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship held in New Delhi and won the bronze medal in the Welterweight category in November 2018.
In 2019, Lovlina again grabbed Bronze Medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championship held in Ulan-Ude, Russia. In March 2020, Borgohain secured the Olympic berth in the 69 kg with a 5-0 win over Maftunakhon Melieva of Uzbekistan in the 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Lovlina Borgohain had also been honoured with Arjuna Award for her outstanding performance in boxing in the year 2020. NLC Congratulates Lovlina Borgohain for winning the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.