Tokyo Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain put up a lacklustre display to settle for a silver as Indian boxers signed off with a haul of five medals at the Asian Games on Wednesday. Parveen Hooda couldn’t overcome the height disadvantage against two-time world champion Lin Yu Ting of Chinese Taipei in the women’s 57kg semifinal to sign off with a bronze. Borgohain’s defensive performance cost her the gold as she was out-punched in the lop-sided final. The reigning world champion was thrashed by home favourite and two-time Olympic medallist Li Qian in the 75kg final. With Borgohain’s loss, India’s campaign came to an end. The country’s boxers thus signed off with five medals, including one silver and four bronze. In the last edition, India had won a gold and a bronze.
“I gave my best but could not bring the gold. I am happy with my performance. I will try to change the colour of the medal in the Olympics,” Borgohain said after the bout. (Asian Games Medals Tally)
“I committed some mistakes like I was playing closer to the opponent and got a point cut. I will work on the mistakes I committed,” she added.
Fighting for gold, both Borgohain and Qian looked tentative, trying to size each other up.
Borgohain, the reigning Asian champion, was unwilling to attack until the referee asked her to start fighting following which she landed right punch.
The two boxers did throw punches at each other but without much accuracy with none of them making much of an impression in the first round, which involved a lot of clinching. Borgohain was warned twice for holding and Qian narrowly took the round 3-2.
The second round followed a similar script with both boxers clinching each other. Borgohain was once again passive and after her third warning, she was hit with a point deduction for excessive holding.
Trailing after the first two rounds, Borgohain needed to be proactive but the Indian seemed content with a silver.
“Also there were lots of positive which I can take. Qualifying for Olympics from this tournament was more important to me and I achieved it,” she added.
Parveen struggles to overcome height disadvantage
Parveen, who won the 63kg bronze at the 2022 World Championships, went down to Lin via a 5-0.
Standing at five feet and seven inches, Parveen was at a disadvantage against Lin because of her height, which made it difficult for her to land scoring punches.
Lin, on the other hand, capitalised on her two-inch advantage. The 2018 bronze medallist pounded Parveen with a range of punches while fighting from afar.
Trailing on all five cards, Parveen tried a more aggressive approach in the second round but the 27-year-old Lin used her experience to ward off the Indian’s blows by using her nimble feet.
Parveen did find success sporadically but that was not enough to convince the judges as Lin kept on landing punches consistently.
Lin, who has three World Championships medals to her name, had also grabbed a bronze in the 2023 edition earlier this year, but was disqualified after she failed an eligibility test.
The 23-year-old Indian has already secured an Olympic quota for next year’s Paris Games along with two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), and Borgohain.
None of the male pugilists could earn Olympic quotes with only Narender Berwal ( 92kg) winning a medal.
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