Paris Olympics 2024: Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain opened her Paris Olympics 2024 campaign in style, defeating Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad 5:0 in the women’s 75 kg round of 16 bouts on Wednesday. Borgohain, a 69 kg bronze medalist at Tokyo 2020, is seeded eighth in her first 75 kg Olympic tournament.
Making her Summer Games debut, the 20-year-old Hofstad adopted an aggressive approach in the first two rounds. However, Lovlina was resolute in defence, smothering her opponent’s punches while countering with a smile, according to Olympics.com.
The Norwegian boxer improved in the third round, but it wasn’t enough to outscore the reigning Asian Games silver medalist. With this win, Borgohain advanced to the quarterfinals.
Borgohain will face Li Qian of the People’s Republic of China, who defeated her for the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou last year. The Lovlina Borgohain vs. Li Qian women’s 75kg quarterfinal is scheduled for Sunday, August 4, at 3:02 PM IST.
On Tuesday, India faced setbacks in boxing in both men’s and women’s events. The Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio knocked out Indian boxer Jasmine Lamboria in the women’s 57 kg round of 32 match.
Like Preeti, the bout didn’t start well for Jasmine, who found herself trailing at the end of the first round. Four out of five judges awarded ten points to the Philippine boxer. In the second round, Petecio continued to dominate. She looked at ease throughout, and all five judges awarded her ten points.
In the third and final round, Jasmine needed a remarkable comeback to turn the bout in her favour. However, the comeback never materialised, and she lost the match 0:5 on points. Amit Panghal also exited the Paris Olympics following a loss in the 16th round of the men’s 51 kg category.
Amit lost to Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba by 1-4. In the initial rounds, Amit was highly aggressive, and both boxers traded punches. But in the third round, judges ruled entirely in favour of the Zambian boxer, who won by a split decision of 1-4.