Representing India and Assam in the finals of the women's 75 kilogram category Boxing at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, Lovlina Borgohain bagged the silver medal after she came up short at the very last losing to China's Li Qian.
Her Chinese opponent came in strongly in the final round and landed some punches to all but seal the result. In the end, Qian won the bout by a unanimous 5-0 decision by the judges.
Lovlina trailed 3-2 at the end of the second round and needed only a knockout or an RSC in the third round to win the gold medal. However, that was not to be as she was always second best in the match.
Needing to land some clean shots to tilt the tie in her favour, the second round saw the Indian pugilist picking up a point deduction from the referee for excessive holding.
Earlier in the first round, the judges had their work cut out as the bout went very close. However, it was Qian who won it 3-2. She had tried to rush Lovlina, something that played in favour of Lovlina. The pair exchanged a few punches and there was a lot of clinching in between.
It must be mentioned that Lovlina Borgohain had on Tuesday punched her way into the finals at the ongoing Asian Games 2023 in China’s Hangzhou becoming the fourth Indian boxer to secure the Paris 2024 Olympics berth.
In the women’s 75 kilogram boxing event, Borgohain had defeated Thailand’s Baison Maneekon in the semi-finals to confirm her spot in the gold medal match scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
With this win in the semi-finals, Borgohain joined Nikhat Zareen, Preeti Pawar and Parveen Hooda in securing a Paris Olympics quota.
Confirming her Paris Olympics quota, the official X handle of Sports Authority of India (SAI) posted, "Lovely game by LOVLINA 's Boxer @LovlinaBorgohai conquers her semifinal bout and marches into the 75kg FINAL"
"Despite a tough match, our champ not only won the bout but also bagged the #Paris2024 Olympics quote in Boxing," the post added.
