Lovlina Borgohain: Sad to lose, but I’m happy with bronze

Lovlina Borgohain goes 0-5 down to world champion Busenaz Surmeneli in semi-final; says she was eyeing gold but is glad to win medal on Olympic debut

She isn’t quite happy with just a bronze in her debut Olympics but Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain on Wednesday said it is nonetheless a huge reward for her sacrifices in the past eight years and she would celebrate it by taking her first vacation since taking up the sport in 2012.

Borgohain, 23, lost 0-5 in the welterweight (69kg) semi-finals to reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey here yesterday morning.

“Accha to nahi lag raha hai [not feeling good]. I worked hard for a gold medal so it is a bit disappointing,” Borgohain said after the bout, in which she was docked a point for not paying attention to the referee’s instructions and also endured two standing eight counts.

“I could not execute my strategy, she was strong, I thought if I play on the backfoot, I would get hit, so I went on the offensive but it didn’t work out as I had thought,” she explained. “I wanted to hit her confidence, par hua nahi [but it didn’t happen]. She was relentless and that was the problem.”

Borgohain’s medal is nonetheless a historic achievement as it was the country’s first Olympic podium finish in boxing in nine years and only the third ever overall after Vijender Singh (2008) and MC Mary Kom (2012).

“I always wanted to compete in the Olympics and win a medal. I am glad I got a medal but I could have got more,” she said.

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