Queen of the Ring

Lovlina Borgohain, who shot into national limelight when she won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, in women’s boxing in the welterweight category, again made India proud by winning a silver medal at the recently held Asian Games, held at Hangzhou, China. She won the silver at the Asiad in the women’s middleweight category. Last year, she switched from the welterweight to the middleweight category.

A Silver for Her

The talented boxer convincingly defeated Thailand’s Maneekon Baison in the women’s boxing’s middleweight category at the recently held Asian Games to storm into the final. In the last three minutes of the bout, she dominated the game and landed punches with both hands without giving the Thai boxer any opening. She dominated the first and the third rounds and won the first round by a more than convincing 5-0 margin.

However, in the end, she was trounced by China’s Li Qian by 0-5 to contend with the silver medal. Incidentally, Lovina defeated Li Quan in the 2023 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, which took place in New Delhi from 15th to 26th March 2023. By reaching the finals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, she secured a spot in the forthcoming Paris Olympics too.

International Triumphs

The five ft.10 inch tall, celebrated woman boxer from Assam also has to her credit for winning two bronze in the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in 2018  and 2019(held in New Delhi and Ulan-Ude in Russia, respectively) and a gold in the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in 2023. IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships was formerly known as AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and is popularly known as World Championships too.

Lovlina also won two bronze medals and one gold medal in the highly prestigious Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, popularly known as the Asian Championships. She won the bronze medals in the 2017 and 2021 editions of the Asian Championships, which were held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Dubai, respectively, whereas she won the gold at the 2022 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, which was held in Amman, Jordan, during 1st-12th November 2022. 

When she won the gold medal at the 2023 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, held in New Delhi, in the 75 kg category by defeating Australia’s Caitlin Parker, Lovlina became the only other Indian boxer besides the legendary Mary Kom to win an Olympic medal and also a gold at World Boxing Championships.

Birth of a Champion 

Youngest of the three sisters, the journey of the 26-year-old from a humble background struggling with poverty to enviable international glory as a pugilist is truly inspirational.

Born on 2nd October 1997,  in a hamlet named Baromukhia in the Golaghat district of Assam, Lovlina has the distinction of becoming the first female athlete and the second boxer from Assam to take part in the Olympics, the sixth person from Assam to get the coveted Arjuna Award. Only the third boxer from India with an Olympic medal(after Mary Kom and Virendra Singh), initially ventured into kickboxing but eventually changed gear to take up boxing. 

Lovina was a former Muay Thai(a form of kickboxing) practitioner, and two of her elder sisters are also kickboxers. Inspired by her elder sisters Licha and Lima, Lovlina made a foray into kickboxing in her early teens.

Her career in boxing got a fillip when, in 2012, while attending a Sports Authority of India (SAI) boxing trial at her school, her boxing talent caught the attention of the renowned coach Padum Chandra Boro, who became her childhood coach.

Getting selected to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, when she reached the quarter-finals, was another big break in her career. Her selection at the Commonwealth Games could be her winning the gold medal in the inaugural edition of the India Open International Boxing Tournament in New Delhi in the women’s welterweight category. That was in February 2018. She followed it up with a silver medal in the 2nd India Open International Boxing Tournament, which was held in Guwahati,

However, here it deserves a mention that even before her winning the gold at the inaugural edition of the India Open International Boxing Tournament, Lovlina won a bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in 2017, which was her first major international medal and which probably led to the emergence of her name in the realm of international boxing. 

India hopes this new-age boxing sensation from Assam will win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Her struggle and eventual triumph can also inspire many talented female athletes from India from underprivileged backgrounds to go the extra mile to excel themselves.