lovlina borgohain – Artifex.News

Post-Paris journey full of ups and downs, but I chose to continue: Lovlina

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:53:00 +0000

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 silver medalist in the women’s 75kg category, boxer Lovlina Borgohain being felicitated by SAI Guwahati during a function, in Guwahati on Wednesday (August 5, 2026).
| Photo Credit: ANI

Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain says continuing her boxing career after the Paris Games is one of her biggest achievements, having battled injuries, self-doubt and a difficult phase over the past year.

Speaking after the Indian contingent met Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya following India’s record haul of 10 boxing medals at the Commonwealth Games, the 28-year-old reflected on the challenges she faced after Paris.

She had made a quarterfinal exit at the 2024 Games.

“First of all, it was a big deal for me to continue for such a long time. There were many ups and downs after the Paris Olympics. There were many questions as to whether I wanted to continue or not. But I came back and continued. That is a big deal for me,” Lovlina told PTI Videos.

Making her third Commonwealth Games appearance, Lovlina won her first CWG medal — a silver. She was happy with the result, even though she had hoped to finish with gold.

“I have won medals in almost all games and competitions. But yes, it would have been better if I had won gold. I am very happy for my team because they have done so well. Seven golds is a big thing for all of us. I am ready for the Asian Games as well. I have to do better and win gold,” she said.

India’s foreign coach Santiago Nieva hailed the team’s performance as a landmark achievement.

“It was a historic result for us. We had some great performances. It gives us a lot of confidence going into the next competitions.”

He singled out Sakshi’s triumph in the women’s 51kg category as an example of India’s extraordinary depth.

“Going into this competition, I was feeling that in women’s 51kg we needed to get a gold medal because just to qualify here, in the selection trials we had three world champions and a couple of youth world champions. It was an extremely strong field and she came through there.

“She had a very strong opponent from England in the final, but the way Sakshi boxed and showed her experience looks very promising for the future.”

Looking ahead, Nieva said the focus would quickly shift to the Asian Games and the Olympic qualification cycle.

World champion Jaismine Lamboria, who recovered from illness just weeks before the Games, said the title reinforced her long-term ambition.

“The main target is the same, LA 2028. Every player keeps improving. We will keep improving.”

Asked whether entering the Commonwealth Games as the reigning world champion added pressure, Lamboria said the tag actually inspired her to overcome her health setback.

“It motivated me a lot. I was not in a position to do well. I trained for just three weeks. I had to recover and perform,” she said.

Published – August 06, 2026 01:23 am IST

Source link

Can Indian athletes punch up in the scaled-down Commonwealth Games?

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:17:00 +0000

Victoria’s decision to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in July 2023, citing unsustainable costs, plunged the multi-sport event into uncertainty.

There were fears that the 2026 Games might not be held at all. For nearly a year, the search for a replacement host went on.

Gold Coast, the 2018 host, along with Singapore and Malaysia, figured prominently before Glasgow officially stepped up to host the event in September 2024, returning after its successful staging of the 2014 Games.

Realising the spiralling organising costs, Glasgow tactfully cut the number of disciplines to 10 across four venues, a considerable reduction from Birmingham 2022 where 19 sports were staged across 15 venues. In many ways, the Glasgow Games beginning on July 23 can be credited with saving the Games from losing its relevance.

Describing it as the ‘Reimagined Games’, George Black, Chair, and Phil Batty, Chief Executive Officer, Glasgow 2026, wrote: “Glasgow 2026 is being realised with 150 million pounds of investment. The competition is being entirely privately funded. A self-sustaining, ground-breaking Games delivery model.”

It might be a scaled-down Games, but make no mistake there will be no shortage of star power, including Olympic medallists, world champions and reigning CWG title-holders.

Leading India’s charge will be Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and former world champion Neeraj Chopra in the men’s javelin. The Indian ace will be challenged by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the Paris Olympic champion and defending CWG titlist.

Neeraj Chopra.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS

The athletics arena will be headlined by Scotland’s reigning world mile record holder Josh Kerr, and England’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the 2023 world champion and Paris Olympics silver medallist in the heptathlon.

Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, the 2023 world champion in the women’s 100m hurdles, and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, are among the biggest names set to light up Glasgow.

India’s medal hopes in athletics will rest on Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase), Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon), M. Sreeshankar (long jump), Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump), Parul Chaudhary (5000m and 10,000m), Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles) and Annu Rani (women’s javelin throw). Will Indian athletes be able to overhaul their 2022 medal tally of eight or surpass their best medal haul of 12 from the 2010 home CWG?

Jyothi Yarraji.
| Photo Credit:
FILE PHOTO: BISWARANJAN ROUT

A sizeable share of India’s medals will also come from boxing and weightlifting. At Birmingham, Indian boxers won seven medals while the weightlifters returned with 10.

In the boxing ring, Lovlina Borgohain, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, will be looking for her maiden CWG medal. The others to keep an eye on are Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) and Sachin Siwach (60kg).

Mirabai Chanu.
| Photo Credit:
FILE PHOTO: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

In weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu (48kg) will be aiming to complete a historic hat-trick of CWG gold medals. Harjinder Kaur (71kg), Vikas Thakur (89kg), Bindyarani Devi (58kg), Gyaneshwari Yadav (53kg) and S. Sanjana (63kg) are among India’s other leading medal hopes.

Transforming fortunes

The Games had transformed the fortunes of several Indian sportspersons in ways even they scarcely could have imagined. Sharath Kamal, Mirabai and Manika Batra are among the finest examples.

Will the ‘Reimagined Games’ produce a few more young Indian stars?

Published – July 22, 2026 10:47 pm IST

Source link

Boxer Lovlina Borgohain Reflects On Paris Olympics 2024, Says “I Want To Be…”

admin — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 14:19:19 +0000

File image of Lovlina Borgohain.© AFP

Lovlina Borgohain is eyeing her third straight summer Olympics but will take it one step at a time from here on. Lovlina, who won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics but returned empty-handed from Paris 2024, said Los Angeles 2028 was very much in her plans. “Tokyo was during COVID times. Paris was a real learning curve. I did my best and have no regrets that I could not win a medal. For every athlete, there are lessons to be learnt and I want to be wiser leading into LA,” Lovlina told SAI Media in an interaction on the sidelines of the ASMITA Women’s Under-17 football final at the SAI campus in Guwahati on Sunday afternoon.

India’s versatile lawn bowler, Nayanmoni Saikia on Sunday, accompanied Lovlina. Nayanmoni is a multiple gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and the Arjuna Awardee is a popular face in Assam. Both Lovlina and Nayanmoni took part in the Fit India Sundays on Cycle mission and stressed on the “no drugs” campaign undertaken by the Union Ministry of Sports.

Lovlina was the darling of the media on Sunday. Assam’s ‘own daughter’ will be touching 31 when Los Angeles arrives but the middleweight (75 kg) boxer is confident that she will be “stronger and more experienced” if she can convert her Paris learnings into action.

“But I am not going to rush my preparations. LA is a long way off and proper weight and injury management will be part of my core plans. Right now, I am not looking beyond the upcoming National Games in Uttarakhand and to do well for Assam is uppermost in my mind,” said Lovlina.

“It will be a target to play the World Boxing Cup Final in India later in 2025,” she added.

Lovlina is now part of the Athletes Commission of the newly formed Asian unit of World Boxing. “It’s a huge privilege to be on this committee as India will now have a voice in decision making,” said Lovlina, pointing out that boxing’s technicalities, “especially scoring and judging” needed closer and impartial introspection.

“Till now, India was just an ordinary member with very little chance to raise a protest or point out a flaw in the system. That is going to change now since we will have seven positions in the Asian body. That’s a big plus for athletes who want to perform their best and win an Olympic medal,” said Lovlina, adding that “all the right moves must be made to keep boxing in the LA 2028 programme.”

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link

“Can’t Say What’s Right Or Wrong”: Lovlina Borgohain On Boxing Points System After Olympics Exit

admin — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:53:21 +0000

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.

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link

Paris Olympic Games 2024, Day 5 Live Updates: Aishwary In Top 8 Ahead Of Final Round; PV Sindhu Dominant

admin — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 05:33:02 +0000

Paris Olympics 2024 Live: How Does India’s Schedule Look Like Today?

A look at Team India’s schedule in Paris Olympics today:

12:30 pm- Shooting – 50m Rifle 3 Pos. Men’s Qualification- Aishwary Tomar, Swapnil Kusale

12:30pm- Shooting- Trap Women’s Qualification Day 2- Rajeshwari Kumari, Shreyasi Singh

Not before 12:50pm- Badminton -Women’s Singles Group Stage- P V Sindhu vs Kristin Kuuba (Estonia)

1:24pm- Rowing- Men’s Single Sculls Semifinals C/D 1- Balraj Panwar

1:30pm- Equestrian- Dressage Individual- Anush Agarwalla

Not before 1:40pm- Badminton -Men’s Singles Group Stage- Lakshya Sen vs Jonatan Christie (Indonesia)

2:30pm- Table Tennis -Women’s Singles Round of 32- Sreeja Akula vs Jiang Zeng (Singapore)

3:34pm- Boxing – Women’s 75kg Preliminary Round- Lovlina Borgohain vs Sunniva Hofstad (Norway)

3:56pm- Archery- Women’s Individual 1/32 Elimination Round- Deepika Kumari vs Reena Parnat (Estonia)

4:35pm- Archery- Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination Round- Deepika Kumari(Subject to qualification)

7pm- Shooting – Women’s Trap Final- Rajeshwari Kumari, Shreyasi Singh (Subject to qualification)

8:30pm – Table Tennis -Women’s Singles Round of 16- Manika Batra vs TBD

8:30pm onwards- Table Tennis -Women’s Singles Round of 16- Sreeja Akula (Subject to qualification)

9:15pm-Archery- Men’s Individual 1/32 Elimination Round- Tarundeep Rai vs Tom Hall (Great Britain)

10:07pm-Archery- Men’s Individual 1/16 Elimination Round- Tarundeep Rai (Subject to qualification)

11:00pm- Badminton- Men’s Singles Group Stage- H S Prannoy vs Le Duc Phat (Vietnam)

00:34am- Boxing – Men’s 71kg Round of 16- Nishant Dev vs Jose Gabriel Rodriguez Tenorio (Ecuador)

Source link

Boxing At Olympics 2024: Nikhat Zareen “Ready To Pack A Punch”, Handed Tough Draw

admin — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 08:04:49 +0000

Indian boxer and current women’s world champion Nikhat Zareen expressed her excitement for her Olympics debut, saying that she feels ready to “pack a punch and fulfill her dream” of a medal.

Zareen will be the part of a star-studded boxing contingent at the Paris Olympics, her first ever.

Taking to X, Zareen wrote, “Bonjour Paris! I’ve dreamt of this moment. Now that I’m here, let’s make it unforgettable and win some hearts! Ready to pack a punch and fulfill my dream. Let’s go! #Paris2024.”

Bonjour Paris! I’ve dreamt of this moment. Now that I’m here, let’s make it unforgettable and win some hearts! Ready to pack a punch and fulfill my dream. Let’s go! ????????????????????#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/8jwQU9o3Bx

— Nikhat Zareen (@nikhat_zareen) July 24, 2024

Heading into the multi-sport extravaganza, Zareen has a lot of accolades that have put her in a good stead. She is the current International Boxing Association (IBA) world champion in 50 kg category, having won her title in March last year.

She also secured a Commonwealth Games gold at Birmingham in 2022 in the light flyweight category. A year later, she won a bronze medal at the Asian Games Hangzhou in the lightflyweight category.

Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain secured difficult match ups in the draws announced for their respective weight categories in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Nikhat, the world champion boxer, secured a match up against Germany’s Carina Kloetzer in the opening round of the women’s 50 kg boxing but her next match could come against China’s Wu Yu, the defending Asian Games champion, as per Olympics.com.

Wu Yu is also the top seeded boxer in Paris 2024 in women’s 50 kg and is also the 52 kg division world champion. Nikhat on the other hand, is the reigning world champion in 50 kg category.

If Nikhat manages to overcome the Chinese challenger, she could face Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat or Uzbekistan’s Sabina Bobokulova in the quarterfinals. She had lost to the Uzbek opponent in February during the Strandja Memorial final. Sabina had also defeated Wu Yu in the semifinal of that event. Chuthamat had also beaten Nikhat in the semifinals on-route to her Asian Games Hangzhou silver last year.

The Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, Lovlina, will be starting her campaign against the Sunniva Hofstad of Norway in the women’s 75 kg category. She could also get a match-up against China’s Li Qian In the quarter-finals, who had defeated her in the Asian Games women’s 75 kg final just last year. Qian is also a two-time Olympic medalist.

Jaismine Lamboria will be locking horns against Philippines’ Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Nesthy Petecio in her opener in the women’s 57 kg category.

If Jaismine moves to the second round, her next opponent will be the third-seeded Amina Zidani from France, the current European champion in this weight category.

Asian Games bronze medalist Preeti Pawar will be boxing against Vietnam’s Vo Thi Kim Anh in the round of 32.

Coming to the men’s boxing event, Amit Panghal and Nishant Dev will kickstart their campaign in the round of 16 of 51 kg and 71 kg categories after receiving opening round byes.

Amit’s opening bout will be against the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba while Nishant is scheduled to face Ecuador’s Jose Rodriguez Tenorio.

The boxing events at Paris 2024 will begin with preliminary rounds on July 27 at the Arena Paris Nord.

Paris 2024 Olympics boxing: Draw for Indian boxers

-Women’s 50kg: Nikhat Zareen vs Maxi Carina Kloetzer (GER) – Round of 32

-Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar vs Vo Thi Kim Anh (VIE) – Round of 32

-Women’s 57kg: Jaismine Lamboria vs Nesthy Petecio (PHI) – Round of 32

-Women’s 75kg: Round of 16: Lovlina Borgohain vs Sunniva Hofstad (NOR) – Round of 16

-Men’s 51kg: Round of 16: Amit Panghal vs Patrick Chinyemba (ZAM) – Round of 16

-Men’s 71kg: Round of 16: Nishant Dev vs Jose Rodriguez Tenorio (ECU) – Round of 16.

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link

Full List Of Indian Athletes Who Have Sealed Paris Olympics Berth

admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 13:27:42 +0000

The highly anticipated Olympics 2024 are all set to kick-start from July 26 and will conclude on August 11. The Olympics will be hosted in Paris and a total of 206 countries will be participating from all over the world. The 2024 Paris Olympics will feature 45 different sports, including 41 that are considered mainstay Olympic sports. Four new sports like breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have also been included in this edition’ roster. India will be sending close to 120 athletes to Paris for the upcoming Olympic games in French capital.

India will look to outdo its tally of seven medals from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which included a gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.

Ahead of the marquee event, here’s a list of all the Indian athletes who have secured a spot in Olympics 2024.

Archery:

Dhiraj Bommadevara: Men’s team

Tarundeep Rai: Men’s team

Pravin Jadhav: Men’s team

Bhajan Kaur: Women’s team

Deepika Kumari: Women’s team

Ankita Bhakat: Women’s team

Athletics:

Akshdeep Singh: Men’s 20km race walk

Vikash Singh: Men’s 20km race walk

Paramjeet Singh Bisht: Men’s 20km race walk

Priyanka Goswami: Women’s 20km race walk

Avinash Sable: Men’s 3000m steeplechase

Parul Chaudhary: Women’s 3000m steeplechase, women’s 5000m steeplechase

Jyothi Yarraji: Women’s 100m hurdles

Kiran Pahal: Women’s 400m

Tajinderpal Singh Toor: Men’s shot put

Abha Khatua: Women’s shot put

Neeraj Chopra: Men’s javelin throw

Kishore Jena: Men’s javelin throw

Annu Rani: Women’s javelin throw

Sarvesh Kushare: Men’s high jump

Praveen Chithravel: Men’s triple jump

Abdulla Aboobacker: Men’s triple jump

Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, Santhosh Tamilarasan, and Rajesh Ramesh: Men’s 4x400m relay

Mijo Chaco Kurian: 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay

Vidhya Ramaraj, Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma, Subha Venkatesan, and Prachi: Women’s 4x400m relay

Prachi: 4x400m mixed relay

Priyanka Goswami/Suraj Panwar: Race walk mixed marathon

Badminton:

H.S Prannoy: Men’s singles

Lakshya Sen: Men’s singles

P.V Sindhu: Women’s singles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty: Men’s doubles

Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto: Women’s doubles

Boxing:

Nikhat Zareen: Women’s 50kg

Amit Phangal: Men’s 51kg

Nishant Dev: Men’s 71kg

Preeti Pawar: Women’s 54kg

Lovlina Borgohain: Women’s 75kg

Jaismine Lamboria: Women’s 57kg

Equestrian:

Anush Agarwalla: Dressage

Golf:

Subhankar Sharma: Men’s golf

Gaganjeet Bhullar: Men’s golf

Aditi Ashok: Women’s golf

Diksha Dagar: Women’s golf

Hockey:

P.R Sreejesh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rogidas, Harmanpreet Singh(c), Sumit, Sanjay, Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh: Men’s hockey team

Judo:

Tulika Mann: Women’s 78kg

Rowing:

Balraj Panwar: M1x

Sailing:

Vishnu Saravanan: Men’s one person dinghy

Nethra Kumanan: Women’s one person dinghy

Shooting:

Prithviraj Tondaiman: Men’s trap

Rajeshwari Kumari: Women’s trap

Shreyasi Singh: Women’s trap

Anantjeet Singh Naruka: Men’s skeet

Raiza Dhillon: Women’s skeet

Maheshwari Chauhan: Women’s skeet

Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan: Skeet mixed team

Sandeep Singh: Men’s 10m air rifle

Arjun Babuta: Men’s 10m air rifle

Elavenil Valarivan: Women’s 10m air rifle

Ramita Jindal: Women’s 10m air rifle

Swapnil Kusale: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Sift Kaur Samra: Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions

Anjum Moudgil: Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions

Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan: 10m air rifle mixed team

Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal: 10m air rifle mixed team

Arjun Cheema: Men’s 10m air pistol

Sarabjot Singh: Men’s 10m air pistol

Manu Bhaker: Women’s 10m air pistol

Rhythm Sangwam: Women’s 10m air pistol

Vijayveer Sidhu: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Anish Bhanwala: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Manu Bhaker: Women’s 25m pistol

Esha Singh: Women’s 25m pistol

Sarabjot Singh/Manu Bhaker: 10m air pistol mixed team

Arjun Cheema/Rhythm Sangwam: 10m air pistol mixed team

Swimming:

Dhinidhi Desinghu: Women’s 200m freestyle

Srihari Nataraj: Men’s 100m backstroke

Table Tennis:

Sharath Kamal: Men’s singles and men’s team

Harmeet Desai: Men’s singles and men’s team

Manav Thakkar: Men’s team

Manika Batra: Women’s singles and women’s team

Sreeja Akula: Women’s singles and women’s team

Archana Kamath: Women’s team

Tennis:

Sumit Nagal: Men’s singles

Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji: Men’s doubles

Weightlifting:

Mirabai Chanu: Women’s 49kg

Wrestling:

Aman Sehrawat: Men’s freestyle 57kg

Vinesh Phogat: Women’s 50kg

Anshu Malik: Women’s 57kg

Nisha Dahiya: Women’s 68kg

Reetika Hooda: Women’s 76kg

Antim Phangal: Women’s 53kg

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link

Lovlina Borgohain Secures Silver Medal In Grand Prix 2024 Competition

admin — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 03:13:33 +0000

Olympic medalist Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain secured a silver medal in the Grand Prix 2024 competition held in the Czech Republic. On the final day of the competition on Saturday, Lovlina lost 2-3 in her third bout against Li Qian of China. The competition was held in a round-robin format from June 12 to 15. Lovlina won her first bout 3-2 against England’s Chantal Reid but lost the second bout 0-5 against Cindy Ngamba of the Olympic Refugee team. Lovlina will be one of the boxers to represent the country in the Paris 2024 Olympics, which will be held from July 26 to August 11.

She had won a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the welterweight category.

India bagged six quotas in boxing for the Paris Olympics 2024 with Amit Panghal (51 kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Jaismine Lamboria (57 Kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) in different categories.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg), two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg) and Preeti Pawar (women’s 54kg) had clinched their respective quotas in the Asian Games at Hangzhou last year.

The rest of India’s three quotas came during the Boxing World Qualifiers event in June. Amit, Nishant and Jaismine all won their quarterfinal bouts in their respective weight categories to obtain the quota.

In the Olympics, India will be looking to outdo their all-time best tally of seven medals, including a gold, which they achieved in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the Paralympics, India will be aiming to outdo their best tally of 19 medals, including five gold, achieved at the 2020 edition in Tokyo.

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link

“Winning World Championship In Olympic Category Was Huge”: Boxer Lovlina Borgohain

admin — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:48:38 +0000

Lovlina Borgohain is aware that fierce competition awaits her at the Paris Olympics but the ace Indian boxer is quietly confident of snaring a second successive Games medal, having found considerable success in her new category, which is also closer to her natural body weight. Following her bronze medal-winning feat at the Tokyo Olympics, Borgohain endured a tumultuous period when she made early exits from the World Championships and Commonwealth Games. She eventually moved up to 75kg as her original 69kg category was scrapped from the Paris program.

Since then, the ace Indian boxer has claimed gold at the 2022 Asian Championship and the 2023 World Championships, along with a silver medal at the Asian Games last year.

“My performance overall after changing the weight has been good. Winning the World Championship in the Olympic category was huge. I had to control weight before (for 69kg) but now I am set in this weight. I have participated in competitions and done well,” Borgohain told PTI in an interview.

One of the reasons for her good run in the higher weight class is that the Assam boxer, who weighs between 70kg to 75kg even out of competition, doesn’t have to shed much before a tournament, a painstaking process that may also sometimes lead to loss of strength.

“Yes, the opponents (in 75kg) are strong but I fit well in this category. I am more comfortable in this category than 69kg because I can eat properly, so the energy level is high. I feel stronger and I am able to train better, with strength and conditioning, I can increase muscle and power,” she added.

The 75kg category has been on the Olympic roster since the inclusion of women’s boxing in the 2012 London Games and the 26-year-old will have her task cut out as she faces boxers who have been plying their trade in the weight class much before her.

“75kg is no doubt challenging because it has always been an Olympic category. 69kg was new but 75kg has been there for years so there are a lot of old, good boxers already competing in it.

“So, that is one challenge. But I am confident because I have had good performances and I feel comfortable in 75kg,” Borgohain, who is managed by IOS Sports, said.

While the three-time world medallist is working on her power, she counts agility and speed as one of her strengths.

“I am tall for a 69kg category boxer and I had to control my weight. When I had to control weight I had to stop eating, I didn’t feel that strong then. But in 75kg, I feel stronger. The speed which I already had helps.” Having competed in a few marquee tournaments in the 75kg weight class, Borgohain now has a fair idea of the pugilists she will encounter in Paris. She also tweaked her strategy during the recent one-week camp on Turkey.

“I have changed my technique a bit. I can’t say what but it has helped me. Earlier I had a more defensive game but now I go ahead and attack,” she said.

As the pressure mounts ahead of the Games, Borgohain said she derives strength from praying and meditating.

“I always try to be calm even when I am at ringside. I meditate, do breathing exercises and I pray. That makes me feel strong. I like reading motivational books. If I have a bout in the evening and I read a little in the morning, I feel really good,” she added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link

Asian Games 2023: Boxer Lovlina Borgohain Settles For Silver, Parveen Hooda Signs Off With Bronze

admin — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 11:32:47 +0000

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.

Topics mentioned in this article

Source link