Tokyo Olympics: Social media showers Lovlina Borgohain with love after boxer secures medal

Lovlina Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past.

Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain has entered the welterweight semifinals at Tokyo Olympics. (Source: Twitter)

Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) assured India of their first boxing medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals on Friday (July 30). The 23-year-old Assam boxer prevailed 4-1 to make the last-four where she will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Ukraine’s Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.

Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past. She was aggressive to start with, followed it up with a tremendous counter-attacking game and kept her defence tight in the final three minutes to emerge triumphant.

“She stuck to the plan of counter-attacking and taking advantage of her height. She had tried being aggressive with this girl in the previous bout and lost. So this time, we told her ‘aap khade raho, usko aane do’," national coach Mohammed Ali Qamar told news agency PTI.

“And what a cool mind she displayed, never got excited. Never tried to barge in. She executed the plan to perfection. Had she tried to go on offensive, she would have ended up getting hit,” he said.

Here are some of the reactions on social media…

WOAHH.. What a bout

Congratulations @LovlinaBorgohai for winning first medal from boxing for India. Two more to go .
Let's go for gold! #boxing#Tokyo2020#Cheer4India#TeamIndia

— Nikhat Zareen (@nikhat_zareen) July 30, 2021

India is confirmed of 2nd Olympics medal
What a lovely Boxing from Lovlina@LovlinaBorgohai has reached semi-finals and looking for Gold medal in #Tokyo2020 Olympics!#Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/Rc3IU93svF — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) July 30, 2021

Super super show by @LovlinaBorgohai ! Two more to go ! #goforgold — Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) July 30, 2021

The day gets sweeter as Boxer Lovlina Borgohain wins her quarter-final welterweight bout and India is assured of another medal. #Lovlina #Tokyo2020 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/kELSDlD5dh — VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) July 30, 2021