Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain has alleged mental harassment by the Boxing Federation of India during her training for Commonwealth Games.
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Tokyo 2022 bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain has alleged mental harassment by the Boxing Federation of India during her training for Commonwealth Games. The Assamese will be representing India at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
In a tweet on Monday, Borgohain revealed that her coaches for the Games were being continually harassed by the authorities. She added that her coaches have been denied entry into the venue, while another one has been sent home. They were also not allowed to take part in her training for CWG 2022.
The tweet from her handle read, “It is with great pain that I have to say that I have to face a lot of torture. Due to political interests, the federation is hindering the training. The federation is also hunting my coaches who helped me win a medal in the Olympics. The federation was not interested in considering my coach Sandhya Gurungji, who is also a Dronacharya Award winner, for the camp. They included the coach only after several requests. But by then it was too late.”
“Such approaches have seriously affected my confidence. Disruption of training due to discomfort. You have to experience mental pressure. Now the coach has been denied entry to the Commonwealth Games Village. I have not been training for the last eight days. The second coach in the team was forcibly sent to India,” she continued.
“I don’t understand how should I focus on the Games as due to this my last World Championships was also spoiled. But I don’t want to spoil my CWG because of this politics. I hope I can break this politics for my country and bring a medal as well.”
With under a week remaining, this could be a huge blow for Borgohain, who has been touted to win silverware in Birmingham after her heroics in Tokyo. Additionally, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said the accreditation process is under review by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and hope that a solution will be figured out in time.
“The IOA and BFI are working to get Sandhya’s accreditation continuously. It is in IOA’s hand but it will come by today or tomorrow,” said a statement. Boroghain won bronze in the women’s 69 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics becoming the second Indian woman boxer to win a bronze medal at the Olympics.
