Lovlina Borgain: India’s newest Olympic medalist

Lovlina Borgain became only the second Indian woman and the third Indian boxer overall to win an Olympic medal after Mary Kom in London 2012 Olympics and Vijender Singh in 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Assamese boxer won a bronze medal in women’s 69 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics.

Hailing from Bara Mukhia, a remote Village in Assam’s Golghar district, Lovlina was born on 2nd October 1997 to Tiken and Mamoni Borgohain. Lovlina started her initial career as a kick boxer. Her elder twin sisters - Licha and Lima – were also kick boxers who represented the state at national age-group level.

Lovlina had to go through a lot of hardships and sacrifices in pursuing her Olympic dream. Her father, a small-time businessman struggled financially to support his daughter's ambition.

Her mother was hospitalized for nephrological ailments last year in July and Lovlina had to be with her mother when the rest of the Indian boxers were attending the national camp besides helping her father in their paddy field. In February this year, Lovlina had to take a break and fly down to Kolkata as her mother underwent a kidney transplant.

Lovlina used to train in Muay Thai in her initial days but when the Sports Authority of India (SAI) held trials at her high school Barpathar Girls High School, Lovlina was shortlisted for boxing and was selected by renowned Coach Padum Boro, under whom she began training at the Netaji Subhas Regional Centre in Guwahati in 2012. She was later coached by Chief Women's Coach Shiv Singh.

Lovlina's career's biggest break came when she was selected to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in welterweight (69 kg) boxing category.

From watching videos of Muhammad Ali to being inspired by MC Mary Kom, Lovlina started winning medals in tournaments around the world.

Lovlina won bronze at the Asian Boxing Championships in Vietnam in November 2017 and another bronze at the President's Cup held in Astana in June 2017.

In June 2018, Lovlina won silver at the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia and bronze at the 13th International Silesian Championship in Poland in September 2018.

She represented India at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship, New Delhi, where she won the bronze in the Welterweight (69 kg) category in November 2018.

A two-time world championship bronze medalist, Lovlina was conferred with Arjuna Award in 2020. She is the also first female boxer from Assam to qualify for Olympics and only the second boxer from the state to represent the country after Shiva Thapa.

In 2019, Borgohain signed up with sports management firm Infinity Optimal Solutions (IOS) which will handle her endorsements and commercial interests.