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Tokyo Olympics: Lovlina Borgohain crashes out in semis, settles for bronze medal

Tokyo Olympics: India boxer Lovlina Borgohain was ousted in the welterweight semifinals, and she settles for bronze.

Lovlina Borgohain

Tokyo, August 4: Lovlina Borgohain raised visions of a silver or even gold when she entered the semifinals of the welterweight category of boxing in Tokyo Olympics. But that was as far as she could go as the Indian went down tamely to Turkey's world No 1 Busenaz Surmeneli on Wednesday (August 4).

In fact, Lovlina was not a match for the Turkish girl, who used her blistering speed and brute strength to telling effect. Surmeneli gave a glimpse of her approach when she leapt into the centre of the ring, almost on the face of Lovlina, after the bell rang.

From the word go, Surmeneli attacked the Indian girl and kept her on the backfoot. Lovlina loves to free her arms and go on the offence but against an opponent who was superior in speed and skills, the Indian had to adopt a defensive approach. It did not work well for her.

Surmeneli almost bullied her opponent in Round 1, and the referee warned the Indian boxer when she tried to give a reply in the kind and looked to go on the offence. Surmeneli won the first round with a clean 10 as all the five referees voted for her.

The second round too followed the script. Surmeneli launched a scathing offence catching Lovlina again on many uncomfortable positions, and landed punches on her face. There was a jaw-rattling uppercut that force the referee to stop the bout for a few moments to check whether Lovlina was alright. But the Indian came out of the referee's count to continue the fight.

The second round too went in favour of Surmeneli with all 10. It was clear that Lovlina had to do something miraculous to regain control but he simply wasn't allowed, Surmeneli aced the bout in spectacular fashion, earning a 5-0 verdict in her favour.

But Lovlina can be proud of what she has achieved in the Tokyo Olympics.

Story first published: Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 11:52 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 4, 2021