Boxing might not have a significant fan-following in our country, but there are notable athletes who are making their presence count in the sport by making it popular. Male and female boxers are giving absolutely everything to make the country proud on the national and the international stage by winning Olympic medals.
Recently, Lovlina Borgohain did the entire nation proud by winning a bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics. People from every nook and corner of the country applauded Lovlina for showing grit and determination in the sport.
She took the bronze medal after losing her semi-final bout in women’s welterweight (64-69kg) boxing to Turkey’s Busenaz Surmeneli via unanimous decision. With this achievement, Lovlina also became the third Indian boxer after the likes of Vijender Singh and MC Mary Kom to clinch a medal at the Olympic Games.
Surmeneli and Lovlina started off quite well but the Turkey international, the defending world champion in the category, clinched the opening round by a comprehensive score of 5-0 and got an early advantage.
India’s Lovlina tried her maximum best to fight back in the next round. Unfortunately, she struggled to get through Surmeneli’s defence. Surmeneli approached the game with caution and aggression and went on to win the second round. Turkey’s woman athlete wrapped it in style by holding off Borgohain in the third round to earn a win via unanimous decision.
Lovlina earned an Olympic medal
Lovlina made it this far by beating Germany’s Nadine Apetz by a split decision (3-2) in Round of 16. The two-time medallist at the AIBA World Championships defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin by a split decision of 4-1 in the quarterfinals.
With this win, the Assam boxer became only the second Indian woman boxer to win a medal at the Olympics. Boxing great Mary Kom won a bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
After she did India proud, the government started building road to the girl’s village. The video of the same has been doing the rounds on the internet.