New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist and India’s star boxer Lovlina Borgohain is through to the quarterfinals after winning against New Zealand’s Ariane Nicholson in Birmingham. She won the bout with a dominating performance and unanimous decision. The 39-year-old boxer had no chance against 24-year-old Lovlina.
In the first round of the women’s 70 kg match, Lovlina punched her way through with a score of 10-9 by four judges while 10-8 by one. In the second round, she took good advantage of her height and showed a combination of attacking and defensive skills to win the second round too. It was clear by then that the Tokyo Olympic medallist will win the bout, Nicholson needed a knockout to win the game. Lovlina defended well to win the match with a 5-0 decision in her favour.
As she advances into the quarterfinals, she will now face Rossie Eccles from Wales. Eccles won the silver medal in the Gold Coast games where Lovlina was out of the competition in the first round. But that was a story four years ago, Lovlina looks in better shape and has better technique now. She will train with her personal coach Sandhya Gurung to overcome the Eccles’ challenge. Her win in the quarterfinals will assure a medal for India.
#Tokyo2020 Olympics ? medalist @LovlinaBorgohai ?starts off her campaign with a win against New Zealand’s Ariane by Unanimous Decision in her round of 16 bout! ?
All the best girl for rest of the competition! Let’s go for GOLD in @Birmingham22#Cheer4India #IndiaTaiyaarHai pic.twitter.com/XmjY3p2vvI
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) July 30, 2022
Hussamuddin and Sanjeet also competed on day 2. Muhammad Hussamuddin, who won a bronze medal in CWG 2018, won against South Africa’s Amzolele Dyeyi to move ahead to the pre-quarterfinals. While Sanjeet was defeated by Alo Leau of Samoa with a decision of 2-3 in favour of the Samoan boxer.
