Lovlina Borgohain fighting China’s Li Qian at Paris Olympics 2024.© AFP
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain crashed out of the Paris Olympics after losing to China’s Li Qian in the women’s 75kg quarterfinal at North Paris Arena on Sunday. With Lovlina’s 1-4 split result, India failed to win any medals in boxing events in Paris. Following her loss, Lovlina spoke to IANS and expressed her disappointment for not being able to recreate her heroics from the previous edition. “I am having trouble accepting this defeat as I failed to achieve what I thought I would. I have to see where I lacked in the contest, if I knew beforehand where I lacked maybe I could have been champion,” Lovlina told IANS.
Alongside the disappointment of Lovlina’s elimination, many fans were left frustrated with the result of Nishant Dev’s quarterfinal bout against Mexican fighter Marco Verde as the Indian dominated the first two rounds but the fight was adjudged 1-4 in favour of the opponent.
Many fans have questioned the transparency of the scoring system in boxing which Lovlina brushed upon during the conversation.
“Boxing is a different sport, it’s difficult to figure out what is happening in the game as you may feel like you have won but it is up to the judges’ perception of how they score the bout. You can’t really say what is right or wrong, you just have to accept it,” she added.
The 2024 Paris Olympics have been a bittersweet one so far for India with many athletes having incredible campaigns but missing out on medals in crucial matchups. However, one of the greatest stories in the opening fortnight has been that of Manu Bhaker.
The 22-year-old became the first Indian woman shooter in the history of the Olympics to win a medal when she bagged bronze in the 10m air pistol women’s event. She followed her history-making win by becoming the first Ievent Indian to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympics post-independence when she teamed up with Sarabjot Singh to secure bronze in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team and just missed out on her third when she finished fourth in the women’s 25m Pistol category.
She has also been given the honour of being India’s flag-bearer at the closing ceremony of the tournament. Lovlina expressed her joy for Manu and thanked her for bringing ‘pride to our nation’.
“I am so happy for her. She did what we could not do in this Olympics and winning two medals is an incredible feat so I want to thank her for keeping the pride of our nation,” concluded the 2020 Tokyo Bronze medallist.
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