Borgohain’s chance to do better than bronze
“Mujhe sirf bronze hi kyon milta hai (Why do I always get bronze),” Lovlina Borgohain was heard muttering between rapid, deep breaths after the heat of the battle at the Tokyo Olympics. Her face was red and her head reeled from the hammering she had received from world champion Busenaz Surmeneli, who went on to win the gold in Tokyo. Borgohain looked crushed.
Her profile shows a stack of bronze medals that includes two from the world championships. Nine months after that life-transforming moment in Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan arena, Borgohain will put on her boxing gloves again at the IBA World Championships in Istanbul and will be eager to change the colour of her medal this time. The draw is on Sunday and Borgohain begins on Monday.
Much has changed for Borgohain. She is a celebrity now, a role model for youth, her posters adorn streets of Assam, her village Baromukhia has a paved road, all thanks to her Olympic medal. After Tokyo, it has taken her some time to refocus and return to training.
The 24-year-old has been quietly preparing at the national camp. The national selection trials showed she was ready for a challenge. She comfortably beat fast improving Arundhati Choudhary, a youth world champion, to reserve her spot for the worlds, putting to rest all doubts regarding her fitness.
“It has taken Lovlina sometime to come back to fitness but she looks in good shape,” says women’s team coach Bhaskar Bhatt. “She is an experienced boxer and she is very well prepared for the world championships. We have high hopes from her.”
The 12-member Indian team had been in Istanbul over the past two weeks sparring with boxers of different countries. “We have had some very good technical sparring sessions with boxers from Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ireland among a host of other teams. Lovlina looks sharp and motivated,” Bhatt says.
Borgohain will be fighting in welterweight, the weight class in which she won her Olympic medal. However, she will need to make a major shift for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 69kg class is not part of the Games and Borgohain will have to come down to 66kg or go up to 75kg. Her conqueror in Tokyo, Surmeneli has already made the move. She will compete in 66kg in Istanbul. 2018 world champion Chen Nien Chin of Chinese Taipei, whom she beat in the quarter-finals in Tokyo, however will be there.
While Borgohain will be keenly watched, there will be a lot to look forward to with Nikhat Zareen (52kg), Pooja Rani (81kg), and promising youngsters Jasmine (60kg), Nitu Ghangas (48kg) also in fray.
Zareen is in good form and will be hungry to win her first medal from a major competition. Having lived in the shadow of MC Mary Kom, she has come on her own this season, winning gold at the Strandja Memorial Boxing in March, where she upset Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Busenaz Cakiroglu. Ghanghas, the other gold medallist from Strandja, has dominated rivals at home and will be facing her first big test at the world level. Like Borgohain, Rani will also return to the ring after the Tokyo Olympics where she put up an impressive performance before losing in the quarter-finals.
Squad: Nitu (48kg), Anamika (50kg), Nikhat (52kg), Shiksha (54kg), Manisha (57kg), Jaismine (60kg), Parveen (63kg), Ankushita (66kg), Lovlina (70kg), Saweety (75kg), Pooja Rani (81kg), Nandini (+81kg).
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