IBA Women's World Boxing C'ships: Lovlina Borgohain crowned champion, changes colour of medal in style

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New Delhi, March 26: Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain on Sunday (March 26) successfully managed to change the colour of her medal in the world championships by winning a gold medal at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2023.

The Indian pugilist from Assam defeated two-time Commonwealth Games medallist boxer Caitlin Parker from Australia on points after a bout review in the final in the 75 kg category. With this, India finished with four gold medals in the marquee competition and all the boxers who made it to the final ended up winning.

Lovlina - who has won two bronze medals in the previous world championships - didn't just break the bronze medal jinx, but also joined fellow Indians Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora in finishing the podium in the global competition.

In the penultimate match of the evening, Lovlina - won the first round against the Aussie by a split decision of 3:2. The tall Manipur-born boxer started the match on a dominant note against her opponent and landed punches in the right areas up front to impress the judges and get the result in her favour.

In the second round, however, the Aussie came back strongly and attacked her opponent right from the bell rang. A lot of clinching and grabbing happened during this bout and Lovlina looked on the backfoot all through three minutes in round two, which she lost 1:4. The Indian paid the price of venturing too close to the Aussie and received punches.

In the third round of the match, Lovlina maintained a safe distance and traded punches in succession to once again convince the judges that she was a better boxer in the championship round. Eventually, she was adjudged the winner by 5-2 on points after bout review and the packed stadium erupted in joy with chants of 'India-India' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Reacting over her performance in the gold medal match, Lovlina said, "I would say that I could succeed only in 90 per cent of my plan in the ring tonight. There was stress when I stepped in the ring as it was a final bout. But extremely happy to win a gold medal for my country tonight. Our plan was to play closely in the first two rounds and maintain some distance in the final round."