Olympic medalist Lovlina Borgohain bags gold at World Boxing Championship, India's tally climb to four
Mar 26, 2023
NEW DELHI: Lovlina Borgohain added fourth gold to India's tally at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championship in New Delhi on Sunday.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist produced a strong show in the 70-75kg finals, where she defeated Australia's Caitlin Anne Parker with 5-2 split decision win after a review.
Both boxers maintained a cautious approach in the opening round despite punches being traded from either ends. After a tight opening round, which was a neck-and-nack fight, went in Lovlina's favour but by the slightest margin.
Lovlina then connected two powerful blows in the initial stages of the second round. Parker then showed strong retaliation, connecting an upper cut on the Indian. Parker kept things under control until the final minute as Lovlina kept dodging mutliple strikes from her opponent. The second round went in Parker's favour, who won it 4-1.
Parker started the final round on an attacking note and pushed Lovlina in the corner shortly after it started.
The Indian was forced to maintain an attacking approach as she was trailing going into the final round, and she did a decent job out of it. Lovlina attacking display in the final round also saw her connect a few jabs on the opponent.
With less than a minute remaining in the bout, Parker connected a jab on Lovlina, before the bell rang after nine minutes of powerful boxing.
This is Lovlina's first gold at the competition after settling for bronze in 2018 and 2019 edition.
After winning the bronze medal in Tokyo, Lovlina didn't have the best in 2022, where she failed to make a mark both at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games. However, she produced a strong show at the nationals and also bagged a gold medal at the Asian Boxing Championship in November last year.
If we look at her campaign, the pugilist from Assam dictated the proceedings, which also include a 4-1 split decision win against former world champion Li Qian of China.
Meanwhile, Nikhat Zareen (48-50 kg) had earlier defeated Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam to win her second gold at Worlds. Nitu Ghanghas (45-48 kg) and Saweety Boora (75-81 kg) had also won gold after beating their respective opponents in the finals on Saturday.
