Debutant Lovlina Borgohain advances to quarterfinals of Olympic boxing defeats Germany’s Nadine

Indian boxer from Assam, Lovlina Borgohain on Tuesday defeated Germany’s Nadine Apetz 3-2 and advanced to the pre-quarters of Tokyo Olympics 2020. She is now just 2 steps away from winning a medal in the 69 kg category at the Olympics.

Borgohain, the lone Indian boxer in action on the day, prevailed 3-2 over her rival who is 12 years her senior. Both the boxers were making their Games debut and the Indian Both the boxers were making their Games debut and the Indian became the first from her nine-strong team to make the quarterfinal stage.

Confirming the news, the Boxing Federation of India tweeted: “What a debut for @LovlinaBorgohai at #Olympics she defeats Flag of Germany’s N Apetz 3-2 and advances to pre-quarters, 2 steps away from a medal in 69 kg category at @Tokyo2020.”

Lovlina faced Nadine Apetz in the ring of Tokyo Olympics 2020 in the Round of 16 at 10.57 am (IST) on Tuesday. On July 22, Lovlina made it through to the pre-quarters of the Tokyo Olympics due to the withdrawal of her opponent from the event. She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in March 2020 by winning the Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Borgohain is a two-time World and Asian Championships bronze-medallist. She will next face Chinese Taipei's Nien-Chin Chen, who is seeded fourth and a former world champion, on July 30. A win in that bout would assure Borgohain of at least a bronze medal at the mega-event. The Indian youngster, hailing from Assam, was the aggressor in the opening round before she changed strategy to play the waiting game, drawing Apetz in to punish her on the counter-attack.