Who is Lovlina Borgohain, India’s hope for gold in World Boxing Championships

India is hosting the International Boxing Association’s 13th World Boxing Championships in New Delhi from March 15 to 26. This will be the third time that India is hosting the prestigious boxing championship. The competition will see over 300 boxers from 65 countries competing for the top spot. While uncertainty remains if the event will function as a qualifier for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, the gold winners will take home $100,000. Among India’s 12-member squad for the tournament is the Olympic bronze-medal winner Lovlina Borgohain.

Born in Assam, Lovlina started training in Muay Thai as a child following her two older sisters. She started boxing in 2012 but struggled financially as her father found it hard to support her dreams. “Lovlina had faced a lot of problems in her life, but these problems could not hinder Lovlina's aim for a greater goal,” her father Tiken told The Bridge in an interview.

Lovlina found her first big break in the sport in 2017, when she won a bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in Vietnam. She also won another bronze at the President's Cup boxing tournament the same year. It was on the back of these victories that she was chosen for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, though she lost to Sandy Ryan in the quarterfinals.

She won more bronze medals at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in 2018 and 2019. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she defeated Taiwan's Chen Nien-chin for bronze but lost to Turkey’s Busenaz Surmeneli for a higher finish.

The Olympic win was a monumental achievement for the small girl from a simple village in Assam’s Golaghat district who had to travel over muddy dirt roads to attend training sessions.

“When I first started boxing, I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to get a chance to participate in the Olympics. I just concentrated on training and got the results. Those who want to get into sports must be patient in reaching a goal. It takes a long time for a dream to come true, you should keep working hard to ensure that the aim is not broken,” Lovlina told The Bridge.

Though Lovlina has not had the greatest form since the Olympics, she is aiming for gold in the upcoming tournament. “Yes, that (not winning gold) is at the back of my mind. But I am desperate to change the colour of the medal this time around. The effort is always to play for the gold medal and this time too it is no different. The preparations are going well and I hope I can break that jinx on home turf,” she said in an interview with the news agency PTI.

But this competition will be tough on Lovlina, who had to shift up from the 69-kg welterweight division to the 75-kg middleweight division. The bulk-up had to come after the International Olympic Committee had scrapped the 69-kg division. Though Lovlina had enjoyed a considerable reach advantage in her previous division, she will be going up against a size disparity if not at least competing with opponents with equal reach.

“I am more comfortable in this (75kg) weight category. There is no tension to control my weight. Yes, I have also changed my technique a bit, to go with the higher-weight category.”