Asian Games: Lovlina to take on Korea’s Seong in quarters on Sept 30. Here’s a look at her medals and journey so far

Lovlina, who has been handed a first round bye, is one bout away from a medal, and she will face Seong Suyeon of Korea in the quarterfinals

Hopes are pinned on ace pugilist from Assam, Lovlina Borgohain, as she takes on Korea’s Song Suyeon in the quarter finals of 70 kg category boxing match at the ongoing 19th Asian Games 2023 being held at Hangzhou in China. Lovlina has been handed a bye in the preliminaries.

The 25 years old 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist from Golaghat in Assam, has punched her way to glory in several national and international championships and etched her name in history by becoming the first female athlete and the second boxer from Assam to represent the state in Olympics.

Here are some of the other titles won by Lovlina, the sixth sportsperson from Assam to be honoured with the Arjuna Award:

World Championships
Gold medal – First place 2023 Middleweight
Bronze medal – Third place 2018 Welterweight
Bronze medal – Third place 2019 Welterweight

Asian Championships
Gold medal – First place 2022 Middleweight
Bronze medal – Third place 2017 Welterweight
Bronze medal – Third place 2021 Welterweight

Other than Lovlina, Mary Kom is the only Indian boxer to have won an Olympic medal and a gold at the World Boxing Championships. However, post the Tokyo Olympics success, the journey for Lovlina has not been as desired by the boxer.
She lost in the second round of the women’s World Championships in Istanbul and later crashed out of the Birmingham CWG in the quarterfinals – both in the light middleweight (70kg) category.
More challenges cropped up for Lovlina after the International Boxing Association (IBA) rejigged the weight classes for the Paris Olympics 2024 and scrapped Lovlina’s 69kg category to replace it with the middleweight 75kg class. But eventually the boxer could adapt to the shift and bagged Gold in the Women’s World Boxing Championships held this year.
In the run up to the ongoing Asian Games, Lovlina gained more and more confidence after she gave India it’s 4th medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in the Middleweight category. She defeated Australia’s Caitlin Parker 5-2 to win the Gold.
The highly competitive ongoing Asian Games will be a decider for the Indian boxers to book their berths for the 2024 Paris Olympics. There are a total of 34 quotas up for grabs across the 13 weight classes.

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