CWG 2022: Lovlina fails to rise but Panghal powers on

One Tokyo Olympics success story tumbled away. One Tokyo Olympics letdown tale progressed in the resurrection path. The 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) carries a ring of striking contrast for Lovlina Borgohain and Amit Panghal.

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With a little bruise under her left eye, Lovlina was battered out of the Birmingham CWG by Wales' Rosie Eccles in a split decision of the women's 70kg category quarter-final on Tuesday night here. On paper and stature, perhaps not many saw it coming. On form and lead-up, perhaps many did.

The Tokyo bronze medallist warmed up for the CWG with a tweet a couple of days before the opening ceremony, crying harassment by the national federation after her personal coach was not allowed in the Games Village with the rest of the Indian boxing contingent. It all settled down the next day, not before it showed boxing wasn’t the omnipresent thought in the 24-year-old’s mind.

Lovlina admitted that to be the case post-Tokyo, where the 24-year-old stood apart from her more accomplished boxers as the lone medallist. She has since spoken about the tag of an Olympic medallist being unsettling for her, with the celebration spree also taking the sting out of her glove.

It took 278 days for Lovlina to strap back for international boxing again, and it wasn't a ride-on-the-Tokyo high one: a second round exit at the Women's World Boxing Championships. Something wasn’t right in May. Something still isn’t right in August.

“There were some issues with her coordination and balance. Her balance was off and her head was bending forward too much,” Bhaskar Bhatt, head coach of the Indian women's boxing team, said of the bout in which Eccles turned the punches on Lovlina in the last two rounds. A point disadvantage to the Indian didn’t help. “That affected her mentally.”

“Technically, she is still okay, but she has not been able to apply that technique in the ring,” Bhatt added. “From her World Championships to now, she has shown some improvement. We will continue to work on it.”

Panghal’s lower body work

Panghal, who beat Scotland's Lennon Mulligan in a unanimous 5-0 decision to secure the bronze in the men's 51kg quarter-final on Thursday, has put in the work on his lower body movement and increased endurance level. It’s an area the 26-year-old and the men’s team coaching staff had identified after his Olympics opening ouster. In the last few months, as Panghal gradually got back the body and will to flight, it gathered pace.

A weekly chart of sprint interval workouts and endurance exercises was drawn out to eat up the morning training routine to go with the ring work. The first involved sessions of short sprints of 30, 60, 90 seconds between walks of 20 seconds, and the latter slow continued running sessions 30, 45 or 60 minutes at a stretch. All of this, said assistant coach in the men’s coaching staff Lalit Prasad, not only revved up the speed on Panghal’s legs to improve his footwork on the ring but also endurance capacity. “If your lower body is strong, your punches will be stronger and the body a lot more balanced,” Prasad said.

Panghal, the 2018 CWG silver medallist who competed in just one tournament in Thailand before Birmingham, is able to feel the difference. “I have focused more on my footwork (after the Tokyo Olympics), which has improved my endurance and stamina. And I can feel it,” he said.

The lower body work has also Panghal closer to the counter-attacking style of boxing in which he can be the most lethal. Thursday bout was an example. Early in the first round, the Indian defended and evaded punches, before spotting a window for a left jab that landed well.

“My strategy was to counter more,” Panghal said. “The opponent was just throwing in punches without a proper plan. My plan was to avoid those and make my move later.”

After Panghal guaranteed another boxing medal for India, Jaismine too secured a bronze beating New Zealand's Troy Garton in the women's lightweight quarter-final. In the men's super heavyweight last-eight bout, Sagar Ahlawat breezed past Seychelles’ Keddy Agnes to also lock a medal.

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