Lovlina lands historic Asian Games gold
Aichi-Nagoya, Oct 2 (UNI) Lovlina Borgohain delivered a landmark performance at the Asian Games here on Friday, defeating China's Bao Ziyi to win the women's 75kg gold and become only the second Indian woman boxer to claim an Asian Games title.
The 28-year-old Indian, who had settled for silver at the previous Asian Games, held her nerve in a fiercely contested final against the unbeaten Chinese boxer to finally convert her Asian Games campaign into gold. Lovlina made an assured start, edging the opening round 3-2 on the judges' cards. Bao responded strongly in the second, closing the distance and attacking with uppercuts, but Lovlina recovered late in the round and retained her lead, with four of the five judges scoring it in her favour.
The Indian maintained her composure through the remaining exchanges to secure the gold in a bout that lived up to its billing as a high-quality final. The victory puts Lovlina in an exclusive club of Indian women's boxing champions at the Asian Games. Mary Kom was the first Indian woman to win the title, claiming gold in 2014. Lovlina had fought her way into the final with a dramatic 3-2 split-decision win over Kazakhstan's Natalya Bogdanova. She had trailed early in that semifinal before mounting a comeback to seal her place in the gold-medal bout.
The gold is particularly significant for Lovlina after she returned from the previous Games with a silver medal. She has now gone one step further on the Asian stage, adding an Asian Games title to her international honours. Bao, the Asian Elite Championships gold medallist, came into the final with an unbeaten amateur record and a 14-0 mark, but Lovlina overcame the challenge to claim the biggest medal of her Asian Games campaign. Lovlina's triumph came amid another productive day for India in Aichi-Nagoya, with the country's archers also making history.
Kumkum Mohod and Dhiraj Bommadevara won silver in the mixed recurve team event after losing to China in the final, while Ankita Bhakat, Kumkum and Kirti Sharma had earlier secured India's first Asian Games gold in the women's recurve team event. Lovlina's gold, however, provided the day's biggest Indian boxing headline, as the former silver medallist finally climbed to the top of the Asian Games podium.
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