Lovlina Borgohain’s quarterfinal loss leaves Indian boxing medal-less in Paris Olympics

Lovlina Borgohain at Paris Olympics (Source: X)

At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Lovlina Borgohain fought as a welterweight and won a bronze medal. China’s Li Qian took silver in the middleweight (75kg) category. By the Asian Games last year in Hangzhou, Lovlina had moved up a weight category, and the two were direct rivals. They met in the final and Li was a unanimous winner on points (5-0).

At the Paris Olympics, the middleweight draw had opened up dramatically by the quarterfinal stage. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke and Canada’s Tammara Thibeault, had both exited in the round of 16. Even Morocco’s Khadija El-Mardi, the No. 4, wouldn’t make the semi-final. Unfortunately for Lovlina, none of that helped her, as she was drawn against Li.

She fought far better than she had in Hangzhou, where she had been quite timid, but it still wasn’t enough. In a scrappy bout where neither boxer could establish any kind of rhythm, the 34-year-old Li used every bit of her experience to shade the skirmishes at close quarters. There wasn’t much in it, but with four of the five judges choosing the Chinese, Lovlina’s hopes of a second OIympic medal were over.

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She did her best to jab and put together combinations in the opening round, and did enough to convince the judges from Hungary and Guatemala that she had won the round. The judges from Indonesia, South Korea and the USA had the Chinese shading it 10-9.

The same pattern was repeated in the second round, with neither boxer able to land the telling punches. There were prolonged periods of holding and pushing, and both boxers were cagey with so much at stake. This time, the Indonesian and Korean judges had Lovlina taking the round, while the other three reckoned that Li had done better.

Lovlina needed a big third round to prevail, punches or combinations effective enough to at least provoke a standing-eight count. Instead, Li controlled proceedings, making sure that Lovlina never got close enough to land any shots that hurt her. In the judges’ eyes, this was the most one-sided of the three rounds, with only Hungary’s Veronika Szucs giving it to Lovlina.

This defeat, on the back of Nishant Dev’s controversial loss on Saturday night, ended India’s disappointing boxing campaign in Paris. Both Lovlina and Nishant finished a win short of a medal, while Nikhat Zareen, Preeti Pawar and Amit Panghal exited in the last 16. Jaismine Lamboria didn’t get past the round of 32. After three medals at the last four Olympics – Vijender Singh (2008), Mary Kom (2012) and Lovlina (2020) – it’s back to the drawing board.

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