Olympics Boxing: Lovlina moves to semis, assures medal for India

Tokyo: India's Lovlina Borgohain heads fist into the semi-finals of women's boxing, beating Taiwan's Nien-Chin Chen on Friday, Hindustan Times reported. With her victory of 4:1, a split decision, in the quarterfinal match against Chin Chen, Lovlina assured an Olympic medal in Tokyo Olympics 2021 in the Welterweight category (64-69kg).

The 23-year-old Olympic debutant showed excellent technical acumen as she dominated with 3:2 in the first round and clean swept the second round. She dominated the final round, too, with 4:1, ultimately winning the bout.

Lovlina started with aggression and seconded it with counterattacks while keeping her defence tight in the final three minutes to her triumph.

Her coach, Mohammed Ali Qammar, told PTI that she stuck with the plan to counterattack and using advantage of her height. She was told to stay put and let her opponent come to her, he said. She displayed a cool mind without excitement and never tried to barge in executing the plan to perfection. Otherwise, she would have lost, the coach said.

Earlier, Lovlina won against Germany's Nadine Aptez in her round-16 match. She will face Turkey's Busenaz Surmeneli in the semi-final bout.

Lovlina, from the Golaghat district of Assam, was a kickboxer earlier. She later joined Sports Authority of India (SAI) as a boxer, which proved a good decision after her triumphs, starting from the 2018 world championship bronze. She has two world championship bronzes and two Asian Championship bronzes. She will be the second Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, after Mary Kom.