Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain wrote her name in the history books on Friday, when she beat Chinese Taipei’s Nien Chin Chen in the women’s welterweight quarterfinal 4-1.
With this win, the 23-year-old from Assam entered the semifinals and assured herself and India at least a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Lovlina Borgohain has become the third Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal after Vijender Singh (2008) and MC Mary Kom (2012)
Lovlina will now be up against the reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the semifinals.
Born on Oct 2, 1997, in the Golaghat district, Lovlina is the first woman boxer from Assam to qualify for the Olympics after she won the 2020 Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in the 69 kg welterweight category.
Lovlina’s international breakthrough came in 2017 when she made her international debut for India and won a Bronze medal in the 75 kg category at the President’s Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan.
She made her Asian Boxing Championships debut in 2017 where she won a Bronze medal in the Welterweight category held at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
At the 2018 World Women’s Boxing Championships, she won a Bronze medal in the Welterweight category held in New Delhi. She won the Bronze medal in the Welterweight category again in the following year at Ulan-Ude in Russia.
In 2018, She won her maiden international Gold medal at the inaugural India Open International Boxing held in New Delhi. In the same year, she won a Silver medal at the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia, followed by a Bronze medal at the Silesian Championships. Both are in the 69 kg Welterweight category.
In 2019, she won a Silver medal at the 2nd India Open International Boxing in Guwahati in Assam
Lovlina was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2020 for her contributions to the sport. She became the sixth person from Assam to win the award.
Also Read: Tokyo Olympics: Lovlina overcomes Bavarian challenge to storm into quarterfinals
