Lovlina Borgohain has no regrets after missing medal at Paris 2024 Olympics

Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain, a Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, described her Paris 2024 Olympics campaign as a learning experience, saying she had no regrets despite missing out on a medal.

Competing in the women’s 75kg boxing event in Paris, Lovlina Borgohain was handed a bye in the first round before beating Sunniva Hofstad of Norway by unanimous decision in the round of 16. She then went down by a 4:1 split verdict to eventual champion Li Qian of the People’s Republic of China in the quarter-finals.

“Tokyo was during COVID times. Paris was a real learning curve,” Lovlina told SAI Media. “I did my best and have no regrets that I could not win a medal. For every athlete, there are lessons to be learnt and I want to be wiser leading into the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.”

India’s versatile lawn bowler, Nayanmoni Saikia on Sunday, accompanied Lovlina at the ASMITA Women’s Under-17 football final at the SAI campus in Guwahati. Nayanmoni is a multiple gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and the Arjuna Awardee is a popular face in Assam.

Both Lovlina and Nayanmoni took part in the Fit India Sundays on Cycle mission and stressed on the ‘no drugs’ campaign undertaken by the Union Ministry of Sports.

Assam’s ‘own daughter’, Lovlina is confident that she will be “stronger and more experienced” if she can convert her Paris 2024 learnings into action.

“But I am not going to rush my preparations… proper weight and injury management will be part of my core plans. Right now, I am not looking beyond the upcoming National Games in Uttarakhand and to do well for Assam is uppermost in my mind,” said Lovlina.

Lovlina expects 2025 to be a challenging year with the World Championships on the cards. “It will be a target to play the World Boxing Cup Final in India later in 2025,” the Indian boxer added.

Lovlina is now part of the Athletes Commission of the newly formed Asian unit of World Boxing. “It’s a huge privilege to be on this committee as India will now have a voice in decision making,” said Lovlina, pointing out that boxing’s technicalities, “especially scoring and judging” needed closer and impartial introspection.

“Till now, India was just an ordinary member with very little chance to raise a protest or point out a flaw in the system. That is going to change now since we will have seven positions in the Asian body. That’s a big plus for athletes who want to perform their best and win an Olympic medal,” said Lovlina.