Lovlina defeated Chen to assure India its second medal.
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Former Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju heaped praises on Lovlina Borgohain after her performance in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics against Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen in the quarterfinals. She defeated Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen 4-1.
Lovlina defeated Chen to assure India its second medal. Lovlina is the third Indian boxer after Mary Kom and Vijender Singh to win a medal at the Games.
“India is confirmed of 2nd Olympics medal. What a lovely Boxing from Lovlina @LovlinaBorgohai has reached semi-finals and looking for Gold medal in #Tokyo2020 Olympics,” the former sports minister said in a tweet.
Lovlina will face top seed Busenaz Surmenellii of Turkey in the semi-final.
Lovlina who hails from Assam started her career as a kickboxer. Her sisters had also gone down the same path. But, the opportunities in Golaghat were limited for such a profession. The switch from kickboxing to boxing was made because there was no other choice. In Barpathar Girls High School, this young girl participated in the boxing trials and impressed the judges. Padum Boro, the renowned Assam boxing coach at that time, had spotted her and given her the opportunity to perform on bigger stages.
But before that, one needs to credit her father. He would often bring sweets wrapped in newspaper. In one such newspaper, she saw a photo of Muhammad Ali and his exploits in boxing. Inspired by Muhammad Ali, she decided to show her mettle in boxing.
Thus began the journey of Lovlina Borgohain, the 23-year-old from Golaghat who flew India’s flag high in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Lovlina was in red. She was as fierce as the colour she was earing. She started the bout with a right jab at her opponent. Continuing her usual style, she was quick on her feet and landed a strong punch on the right and then followed it up with a left jab. Both of the boxers gave in their best but Lovlina prevailed in the round to win in a 3:2 split decision.
Borgohain had an amazing start in the second round as well. Her jabs were as strategic as they could get. Chen responded with a couple of nice punches, and scored on those as well, close to the whistle in Round 2.
“She stuck to the plan of counter-attacking and taking advantage of her height. She had tried being aggressive with this girl in the previous bout and lost. So this time, we told her ‘aap khade raho, usko aane do’,” national coach Mohammed Ali Qamar told PTI.
“And what a cool mind she displayed, never got excited. Never tried to barge in.”
