Tokyo, Aug 4 (FN Agency) India’s boxing sensation Lovlina Borgohain settled for bronze medal after going down to top seed and reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey 5-0 in the semi-final of women’s Welter (64-69kg) category, here on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Lovlina had earlier beaten Germany’s Nadine Apetz in the round of 16 before overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nien-chin in the quarter-finals on Friday. She assured herself of a bronze medal by making it to the semifinals.
Notably, both the losing semi-finalists get the bronze medal in Olympics boxing. With a bronze medal, Lovlina became only the third Indian boxer after Vijender Singh (bronze at Beijing 2008) and MC Mary Kom (bronze at London 2012) to win an Olympic medal. Her bronze medal takes India’s medal tally to three in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics after Mirabai Chanu’s bronze medal in women’s weightlifting on the first day on July 24 and PV Sindhu’s bronze in badminton women’s singles on August 1. The two boxers, facing each other for the first time, looked to take the game to their opponent in the opening round.
Surmeneli ensured she didn’t allow Borgohain to take advantage of her height and Lovlina lost the first round 0:5 as all the judges gave the decision in favour of the Turkish boxer. The Indian boxer tried to claw her way back into the contest but Surmeneli took advantage of Lovlina’s open guards and landed some punishing left hooks to dominate round 2 as well. Despite her brave effort, Borgohain received Surmeneli’s relentless attacks and was outclassed in the third and final round as well. Lovlina’s loss also brings India’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics boxing campaign to an end.