World champion and Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain advanced into the finals of the 'Women's Boxing 75-Kg' category at Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou and secured her berth at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday. Another Indian boxer Preeti Pawar who was in the 'Women's Boxing 54-Kg' category came home with a bronze medal. Borgohain, who is also the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, cleverly booked her ticket for next year's Paris Games by defeating the Asian Championship silver medallist Baison Manikon of Thailand 5-0, reported news agency PTI. In the 75kg semifinal, Borgohain controlled the bout by using her long reach and kept landing straight punches. She will eye a gold medal in her final bout with at least silver confirmed for India.
Preeti put up a good show but unfortunately, she lost 0-5 to the reigning flyweight champion China's Chang Yuan. Both the boxers displayed their skills and ring IQs in the opening three minutes. Preeti tried to find a window to poke and peck with a right hook, but the Chinese athlete kept landing right hooks at her. At one point in the game, the 19-year-old Preeti landed a double jab which was followed by two right hooks and two body shots to score crucial points but Chang retaliated with a right cross and a flurry of jabs.
The punches landed by the Chinese boxer were much cleaner which made four of the five judges rule in her favour in the opening round, reported PTI.
In the second round, the Indian boxer increased the intensity and tried to break Chang's defence but the Chinese boxer defended well while moving around in the ring.
The Chinese athlete went a bit rough and was warned a couple of times for hitting behind Preeti's head. After seeing her lead, Chang continued to defend for the last three minutes and took the win home, PTI reported.