Golaghat to Tokyo: A glimpse at Lovlina Borgohain’s quest for glory

First female boxer from Assam to qualify for Olympics – Lovelina Borgohain, shot to popularity in 2017 after she won a bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in the Women’s Welterweight category. 

Borgohain followed it up with one more blockbuster at the President’s Cup held at Astana in Kazakhstan, where she finished at the third spot.  

Her career’s greatest break came when she was chosen to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. However, she lost to Sandy Ryan from the United Kingdom in the quarterfinals.  

She also participated at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship, held in New Delhi, where she won the bronze medal.  

In March 2020, Borgohain booked her spot in the Olympics by beating Uzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Melieva in the quarterfinals of the Asian Olympic qualifiers.  

With this, she became the first ever sportswoman from Assam to qualify for the Olympics. She would take part in the Women’s 69kg Welterweight category boxing event in the Tokyo Olympics.  

“I’m extremely glad that I have qualified for the Olympics. My dream of winning Gold in the Tokyo Olympics will get fulfilled,” Lovlina said. 

Lovlina hails from the Golaghat district of Assam and is representing India at the Olympics in the 69kg welterweight category.  

She comes from a working-class family. While her father, Tiken Borgohain, is a small-time financial advisor, her mother, Mamoni Borgohain, is a homemaker.  

Following the footsteps of her elder twin sisters, Licha and Lima, Lovlina initially began her career in kickboxing. But later switched to boxing.  

Having discovered her adoration in boxing, Lovlina was consistently in the lookout for opportunities to showcase her talent. 

She took part in an event organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) at her school – Barpathar Girls High School, where she was spotted by famous Coach Padum Boro 

Boro began to train her from 2012. She was subsequently trained by Chief Women’s Coach Shiv Singh.  

In February, 2020, she flew down to Kolkata as her mother went through a kidney transplant at a private hospital in the city.  

Subsequently, the second wave of COVID-19 hit the nation and 21 athletes at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium tested positive. 

It was an undeniably a challenging time as the Olympic-bound boxers, including Lovlina. She, however, continued with training in the room itself where she was staying. 

As many others, Lovilna prepared for the Olympics at her home in Baramukhia in Assam, and was directed by the mentors through online recordings.  

“The mentors held video meetings with us consistently. They have effectively given us plans for mornings and nights. I make a video of the preparation and send it to them,” Lovlina said. 

Nonetheless, preparing alone is never equivalent to preparing as a unit and competing with different boxers.  

Subsequently, when the camp began, the mentors got down to prepare them up for the Tokyo Olympics.  

While it’s not difficult to get occupied, Lovlina realizes what’s at stake. It’s after all the thing she has been preparing for many years.  

“Feeling incredible! I can’t express it in words. It would have been exceptional to have received the honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan from the President himself,” — This was the first response of Lovlina after being awarded the Arjuna Award.