Lovlina Borgohain story: From the streets of Assam to a true champion of Indian boxing

With an Olympic bronze and gold medals at the world and Asian championships, Lovlina Borgohain has carried forward the legacy of women in Indian boxing that was founded by the legendary Mary Kom.

At Tokyo 2020, Lovlina Borgohain won bronze in the women’s welterweight category (69kg) to become the third Indian boxer with an Olympic medal, following in the footsteps of Mary Kom and Vijender Singh.

In 2023, Lovlina, 25, was crowned the world champion in the women’s middleweight (75kg) division. Mary Kom is the only other Indian boxer who has won an Olympic medal and a gold at the World Boxing Championships.

However, it took almost a decade of focused and unrelenting effort from Lovlina Borgohain to emerge from the streets of Assam and become a true champion of Indian boxing.

Where is Lovlina Borgohain from

Born on October 2, 1997, Lovlina came from a remote hamlet called Baromukhia in the Golaghat district of Assam. She battled several challenges in her early days, including poverty.

Inspired by her elder sisters Licha and Lima, Lovlina took up Muay Thai – a form of kickboxing – as a teen.

A fortunate encounter with Indian boxing coach Padum Boro during Sports Authority of India’s trials steered Lovlina Borgohain towards amateur boxing.

Lovlina began her boxing training at Netaji Subhas Regional Centre in Guwahati in 2012 at the age of 14. She was quick to repay Padum Boro’s faith in her by winning the junior national championship in 2012 and a silver at the 2013 Nation’s Women’s Junior Cup in Serbia.

Lovlina’s first major international medal came in the form of a bronze at the 2017 Asian Championships - a feat that got her selected in the Indian team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

She was ousted in the quarter-finals at Gold Coast 2018 but ended the year with a bronze medal in the welterweight division at the World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.

The pugilist from Assam went on to secure another bronze at the 2019 World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia, in the same category.

“I know the two world championships bronze are a good effort, but my aim is to win a gold at the international level. I realise I need to work even harder for that,” Lovlina Borgohain had said after her event in Russia.

The medals at the world championships helped Lovlina convince the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) to send her to the Asian qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Lovlina defeated Uzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Melieva in the quarter-finals of the Asian Olympic qualifiers in March 2020 and won an Olympic quota for India in the welterweight category (69kg) by reaching the semi-finals.

Historic bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2020 World Championships were postponed by a year due to COVID-19 but that did not dampen Lovlina Borgohain’s spirits. She put in the hard yards to make herself a medal contender and it all paid off at the grandest stage of them all.

A total of nine Indian boxers, including the legendary Mary Kom, represented India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Lovlina was the only one who returned with a medal.

Lovlina Borgohain started her campaign at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a hard-fought 3-2 split decision victory over Germany’s Nadine Apetz, a two-time world championships medallist, in the round of 16.

In the quarter-finals, Lovlina was up against 2018 world champion Chen Nien-Chin of Chinese Taipei, an opponent the Indian had failed to beat in her last three attempts. However, Lovlina was fourth time lucky.

The Indian boxer used her height to good effect and landed some heavy hooks and jabs to stun Chen Nien-Chin. She won the bout 4-1 on split decision.

Lovlina Borgohain was blanked by Turkey’s 2019 world champion and eventual gold medallist Busenaz Surmeneli in the semi-finals but reaching the top four was enough for a bronze.

"I had nothing but gold in my mind in Tokyo," Lovlina said while reflecting on her campaign at the Olympics.

"I like professional boxing a lot. I had thought that if I won gold in Tokyo I would shift to professional boxing. But I stopped at bronze. So in Paris, the target is gold. After that, I can join professional boxing," Lovlina, who is a fan of pro boxer Floyd Mayweather, said.

With the welterweight category (69kg) no longer an Olympic division for Paris 2024, Lovlina Borgohain was forced to bulk up to compete in the middleweight division (75kg) after the Tokyo Olympics.

The change proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Indian boxer.

Lovlina Borgohain: the Asian boxing champion

The Assamese lass finally broke her bronze jinx and won a gold medal at the Asian Boxing Championships 2022 in the middleweight division. Competing in her maiden final at the championships, Lovlina Borgohain beat Ruzmetova Sokhiba of Uzbekistan 5-0 for the gold medal.

She moved to the light middleweight division (70kg) for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham but returned empty-handed after losing to eventual champion Rosie Eccles of Wales in the quarter-finals.

Lovlina Borgohain: the world boxing champion

Lovlina Borgohain’s maiden world title came in the middleweight division (75kg) the following year at the 2023 World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.

After winning her first two rounds convincingly, the Indian boxer defeated two-time Olympic medallist Chinese Li Qian 4-1 in the semi-finals and upstaged Australia’s Caitlin Parker 5-2 in the summit clash.

With gold medals at the 2022 Asian Championships as well as the 2023 World Boxing Championships, Lovlina Borgohain seems ready for an upgrade at the Paris 2024 Olympics as well.

At the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China, Lovlina Borgohain finished with a silver medal on her debut at the continental multisport event. She lost the gold medal bout to China's Li Qian, a two-time Olympic medallist, but managed to secure a Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India.

Lovlina's quest for a second Olympic medal at Paris 2024, however, fell one win short as she wend down to the People's Republic of China's Li Qian, the eventual gold medallist, in the quarter-finals.

Lovlina Borgohain’s medals and achievements

• Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Bronze (2021)
• World Championships - Gold (2023), Bronze (2018, 2019)
• Asian Championships - Gold (2022), Bronze (2017, 2021)
• Asian Games - Silver (2023)