Lovlina Borgohain comes across as one who strives to take control of her destiny. How else can she have translated immense self-belief into accomplishing something that only two other Indian boxers have done before? An Olympic medal, with the prospect of being the first finalist looming on the horizon, is reward for acting and playing as if it were impossible to fail.
Indeed, a couple of things have stood out in her Olympic Games campaign so far. Her opening bout, against Germany’s Nadine Apetz, was part nervousness and part business. But the quarterfinal against Nien Chin Chen (Chinese Taipei), who had beaten her twice in 2019, was all about intelligence and situational awareness – efficient and effective.
The other aspect of her boxing, as 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh points out, is a great ability to let her emotions and game plan not be transmitted to the rival. When she is not rushed, she has the uncanny knack of masking her face, forcing her opponent to look for other cues By the time they find it, Lovlina scores methodically and opens up a cushion.
Lovlina has five days in which to recover from the rigours of bout with Chen Nien-Chin and get ready, physically and mentally, for the biggest match yet of her career on Wednesday. The semi-final against 2019 World champion Busenaz Surmeneli (Turkey) will pit her with another 23-year-old who has similarly dreamt of winning an Olympic medal from her childhood.
The Indian challenger has expressed her desire to go for gold, eschewing complacency. It is a good sign of the hunger that is increasingly common in Indian athletes. It is a reflection on the crop of young athletes which does not want to rest on its oars, showcasing a positive attitude as it pursues its dreams.
Then again, the realisation of dreams is not as simple as it sounds. Lovlina has made sacrifices but has shown her sensitive, human side by choosing to be by her mother’s side when she was unwell and needed support. The monetary reward that came along with the Arjuna Award in August 2020 was of great assistance.
She secured her Olympic Asia & Oceania Olympic Qualifying Event in Amman, Jordan, in March 2020. Yet, while she had attained a primary target of qualifying, a bout of Covid-19 in October last year, needing hospitalisation, left her wondering if she would regain fitness and form to compete in the Olympic Games, postponed by a year because of the pandemic.
It was at this stage that the Sports Authority of India stepped in, opening up its Guwahati facility to one of the girls who had spent much time there in her formative years. After recovery, Lovlina attended a month-long camp in a familiar surroundings, battling the non-availability of sparring partners of her choice. Slowly, but determinedly, she found her rhythm.
The Asian Boxing Championships, held in Dubai in the end of May this year, saw her finish third in the 69kg class behind Kazakhstan’s Valentina Khalzove and Uzbekistan’s Navbhakor Khamidova. She lost the one bout she fought on comeback to competition, losing a split points verdict. Clearly, she was work in progress and the camp in Assisi, Italy, sharpened her.
The journey to an Olympic medal may not have found fruition without some strong personal decisions. For instance, Lovlina found a unique way to not let a deep friendship with fellow-Assam boxer Jamuna Boro come in the way of her dreams. Becoming aware that the friendship was becoming a distraction, they decided to maintain a healthy distance at the National camp so that they could focus on training.
Surely, it was not the easiest to do. That decision has obviously paid dividends and it is hard not to appreciate the maturity with which she acknowledged that a friendship was distracting her attention, made a tough decision and embraced it. It is a great example of mental strength and a statement of her growing sense of maturity and commitment to the sport that she so loved.
Then again, nearly a decade ago, it was kickboxing (Muay Thai) that was her first love. The transition was engineered in 2012 by Sports Authority of India coach Padam Chand Boro who watched in a trial in the Barpathar Girls High School. And then, as the cliché goes, there was no looking back.
So it seemed when Lovlina boxed her way to bronze medals in two World Championships and two Asian Championships. Until Covid-19 struck and brought up opposing thoughts. On Friday, she has erased the doubts anyone may have had about her being able to stand up to the rigours of the Olympic Games competition.
As someone who has set targets and achieved them, Lovlina Borgohain will dream bigger than an Olympic Games bronze. And she will continue to pursue those bigger dreams with the same relentlessness with which she ensured a medal for herself and her country, thirsting as it does for Olympic medals and has begun to assist athletes in working towards that.
This piece was first published by The Quint on August 4, 2021
