Lovlina Borgohain is better prepared for Paris, feels father

KOLKATA: After winning bronze in the 69kg category in Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Lovlina Borgohain had vowed to come back even stronger and grab the gold medal at the next Olympics.
But with her weight-category being scrapped from the Paris Olympics programme, she had to shift to 75kg category and there were apprehensions as to whether she would be able to make the cut.Lovlina proved all her doubters wrong and made it to Paris where she will begin the quest to fulfil her dreams on Wednesday against Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad at Arena Paris Nord in Villepinte in the round of 16.
However, it’s not going to be an easy outing for Lovlina, who is seeded eighth at the Olympics. Her first competitor is a 20-year-old former world youth champion as well as a European youth champion and stands at 1.75m.
But her father Tiken Borgohain believes she is better prepared than Tokyo and will be able to make a positive start in Paris. “Her preparation ahead of the Olympics has been good. Her new coach has also been guiding her well and she is more comfortable fighting in her new category,” Tiken said during a brief interaction with TOI on Tuesday evening.
While she obviously worked hard during the camp in Patiala under CA Kuttappa and Dmitry Dmitruk, it was during a three-week camp in Saarbrucken, Germany, that she polished her skills alongside boxers from Ireland, US, Mongolia, Germany and Denmark among others.
And boxing coach Abhishek Sah, who was part of the camp in Patiala as well as worked with her in SAI Guwahati during her formative years, believes if Lovlina does perform to her strengths, she will be able to bag the win.
“She has to make good use of her height and attack and counter attack from a distance,” Sah added. “However, it all depends on how it goes on the day. We all had expected Amit Panghal to medal but he lost in the round of 16.”
Lovlina’s father has also learnt to think in that way and has accepted that winning and losing are part of the game. He doesn’t even speak with Lovlina about the bouts and sticks to just asking general stuff. “We haven’t spoken anything about her upcoming matches. Just asked her how things have been, whether she has eaten or not, and we keep telling her to take care of herself,” he added.
Although he doesn’t ask her anything he does worry at times and Lovlina has delivered on more than one occasion. After the disappointment of Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she won gold in Asian Championships in 75kg category. Then last year in New Delhi, she won the gold in World Championships and also made it to the final of Asian Games.
If she can keep up the form, there won’t be much to worry about for her but it’s hard to predict the result in a sport like boxing despite the best efforts of the athlete.