Lovlina Borgohain becomes first woman pugilist from Assam to qualify for Olympics

Assam girl and pugilist Lovlina Borgohain has become the first female athlete from the state to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Lovlina Borgohain sealed her spot in the Olympics by

Assam girl and pugilist Lovlina Borgohain has become the first female athlete from the state to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Lovlina Borgohain sealed her spot in the Olympics by beating Uzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Melieva in the quarterfinals of the Asian Olympic qualifiers. She fell in the semi-finals to Gu Hong of China and had to settle for another bronze though but her mission was accomplished.

She will be competing in the Women’s 69 kg Welterweight category at the Olympics to be held in Tokyo between July and August this year.

At the age of 23, Lovlina has already scaled a height that most of her age group can only dream about. The two time bronze world champion has made a mark for herself in the global boxing arena.

Born on October 2, 1997, Lovlina hails from Assam’s Golaghat district and is the daughter to Tiken and Mamoni Borgohain. Lovlina initially began her career as a kickboxer, but later switched to boxing after she was handpicked at a trial held by the Sports Authority of India at her school in Borpathar. She was noticed and taken under the wings of renowned coach Padum Boro and her training began in 2012. She later went on to undergo coaching under Chief Women’s Coach Shiv Singh.

Lovlina’s climb into the boxing world began from here and she went on to win the bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in Vietnam in November 2017 and the bronze medal at the President’s Cup held in Astana in June 2017.

The next year in 2018, the budding pugilist from Assam came into national limelight after she won a gold medal in the welterweight category at the inaugural India Open held in February 2018.

She represented India for the first time at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship, held in New Delhi, where she won the bronze medal in the Welterweight category on 23 November 2018.

The next year in October 2019, Lovlina got selected for her second Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia, that too without trials. She however had to settle with the bronze medal after being defeated by China’s Yang Liu.

The same year, Lovlina signed up with sports management firm Infinity Optimal Solutions which handles her endorsements and commercial interests.

Last year, Borgohain was the recipient of the prestigious Arjuna Award, the sixth Assamese to win it. Her global renown is fast following the steps of boxing veterans Mary Kom and Sarita Devi, as a new generation of champs emerges from northeast India.

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