Meet Lovina Borgohain: the Boxer Bringing Home an Olympic Medal for India

Debutant boxer Lovlina Borgohain is scripting history at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2021. Lovina has assured India of our first boxing medal at the ongoing games after she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals of the women's welterweight category on Friday. The 23-year-old boxer from Assam prevailed 4-1 to make it to the last-four in her category. This win assures that Lovlina will bring home at least a bronze medal, making this India's second win at the 2021 games and third boxing medal ever at the Olympics, with two bronze medals previously being won by Vijender Singh (2008) and M C Mary Kom (2012).

 

 

 

 

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An Indian amateur woman boxer, Lovlina Borgohain hails from Assam and previously won a bronze medal at the 2018 and 2019  AIBA Woman's World Boxing Championships. She is the first woman from Assam to qualify for the Olympics. An Arjuna Awardee, she competes in the welterwieght catagory. Her two elder twin sisters, Licha and Lima have competed at the National Level in kickboxing. Lovlina too started her career as a kickboxer but switched to boxing later when she discovered her aptitude for the game. Her powerless in the sport was noticed by renowned coach Padum Boro, who began training her in 2012. 

Next up, Lovlina will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmemeli of Turkey on August 4th. Though exhilarated with her win (the boxer let out a scream of joy on being declared the winner), she now aims to create history by becoming the first Indian boxer to win a gold medal and has her sights firmly set on the prize. Good luck to you, Lovlina. We, and the entire nation, will be cheering you on!

Lead Image Courtesy: Reuters