Asian Games 2023: Lovlina Borgohain Storms Into Women's Boxing 75 Kg Final, Qualifies For Paris Olympics

With the win, Lovlina has already confirmed a silver medal for India and will vie for gold in her final bout on Wednesday.

Guwahati: World Champion and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain stormed into the 19^th Asian Games 2022 Hangzhou 66-75kg women’s boxing final defeating Thailand's Baison Manikon 5:0 in her semi-final bout on Tuesday.

With the win, Lovlina has already confirmed a silver medal for India and will vie for gold in her final bout on Wednesday. On the other hand, she has booked a berth for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Lovlina has now become the fourth Indian boxer to win the Olympic quota for the Paris Olympics after Nikhat Zareen, Preeti and Parveen Hooda.

Lovlina is the third sportsperson from Assam who will be competing in two Olympics after shuttler Dipankar Bhattacharjee, who represented India in the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and boxer Shiva Thapa, who represented the country in the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics.  

After Lovlina’s win in the semi-final bout on Tuesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while congratulating her, wrote on X, “Power Punch. What an incredible performance by our very own Lovlina Borgohain as she beats Thai pugilist Baison Manikon 5:0 to advance into the final of 75kg women’s boxing at Asian Games 2022 thereby sealing her berth to the Paris Olympics. We are really proud. Keep it up!”

Earlier on September 30, Lovlina won her quarter-final bout 5:0 against Suyeon Seong of South Korea to advance into the women's 75kg boxing semi-finals. With the win, she was only another win away from confirming an Olympic berth.

Lovlina, born on October 2, 1997, is the third Indian pugilist to win a medal in boxing at the Olympics. Other than this, Lovlina bagged gold in the 13th edition of the 2023 International Boxing Association (IBA) Women's World Boxing Championships held in New Delhi. She also won bronze medals in the 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships held in New Delhi and the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships held in Ulan-Ude, Russia.  

Lovlina is the first woman athlete and the second pugilist from Assam to represent the state in the Olympics. Due to her achievements in the field of sports, she was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2020, thus becoming the sixth sportsperson from the state to receive the prestigious award.

The Assam government appointed Lovlina as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in 2022 and was elected as the chair and a voting member of the Board of Directors for the International Boxing Association (amateur) Athletes' Committee the same year.