‘Lovlina Borgohain used straight punches to her benefit’

Lovlina Borgohain made it into the quarterfinals in women’s welterweight as she downed Germany’s Nadine Apetz 3-2 in a closely contested round of 16 tie at Tokyo 2020.

The 23-year-old, making her Olympic debut, won by a split decision over Apetz, who is 12 years senior, and is now just one win away from sealing a medal in boxing’s welterweight category.

It was Apetz who started brightly in the first round, but Lovlina came back strongly with some counter-punches and tried to keep away from the opponent’s punches as well.

In the final round, Apetz tried to seize the advantage with her aggressive stance however, Lovlina used her height to good advantage to keep herself away from the German’s reach.

“It was a very good bout. She won because she played intelligently and used her brain. It was clear that she was taking advantage of her height. She did not take the charge and instead drew her opponent towards her. After that, she was using her leading hand to perfection along with some good uppercuts and combination punches,” former India boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told Olympics.com after Lovlina’s victory.

Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who was the India boxing coach when India won its first Olympic medal in Beijing 2008 as Vijender Singh clinched a bronze, opined that Lovlina’s footwork allowed her to not get restricted against Apetz.

In the next round, Lovlina will be up against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin, who also won her round of 16 bout 3-2 against Italy’s Angela Carini.

Sandhu believes that Lovlina’s coaches deserve to be credited for coming up with an astute plan to tackle Apetz with her nimble footwork. She also mentioned that the Assamese boxer should improve in the quarterfinals.

“Even when the German came close range, she clinched her quickly and did not allow her to exchange punches. Her opposition tried hard but she stayed long and used straight punches to her benefit. Also, her footwork was very well.

“The key was that she did not get hit many times and on the other hand, she was landing her punches pretty well. Credit to her and her coaches who framed this strategy. It worked out really well. It was important for her to win, and she should improve in the next round. This was a close one,” said Sandhu.

She secured a berth for Tokyo 2020 with a bronze-medal finish in the 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic qualifiers. Borgohain defeated Maftunakhon Melieva of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals to become the first female athlete from Assam to qualify for the quadrennial event.

Now she will hope to make a bit more history at Tokyo.