Lovlina Borgohain is an Indian boxer and is the first female athlete and the second boxer from Assam to represent the state in the Olympics. In 2020, she became the sixth person from Assam to receive Arjuna Award. After winning a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in the women’s welterweight event, she became the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics. She won bronze medal at the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
We spoke to Lovlina and her coach Sandhya Gurung exclusively, below are the excerpts…
Q. Lovlina, how are the preparations going on for Asian Games and Paris Olympics?
A. Yeah, it’s going on very well, I am trying hard and putting all my efforts together to win a medal in these competitions. Also, Asian Championship is in focus right now, so will give my best and certainly make India proud.
Q. Has your coach suggested you to inculcate any changes in your game?
A. Yes many a times, as you know we can never be perfect in sports and in the eyes of coach no matter how good you are , he/she will never say that ‘you are perfect now’ on your face (giggles) which is good for growth and refrains you from becoming over confident. So, it’s a daily business, learning new techniques, improvising the game for better results, innovative ideas also emerge which become popular when applied in the ring. They are given names then. Eventually, the preparation will happen as per my coach’s guidance only.
Q. Sandhya, you are the coach for Lovlina, how do you find your student, her virtues, her bads?
A. Lovlina is very dedicated, very hardworking and is very sure of her target. I truly believe her as she is very honest and disciplined in whatever she does. She has miles to go!
Q. So, being a teacher how much will you rate her on 10?
A. 10/10 undoubtly! (laughs).
Q. Lovlina, CWG 2022 has been a major benchmark in the history of Indian sports, do you think the decision of dropping wrestling from the list of sports in CWG 2026 is unfair?
A. See every competition is important, every sport is important and wrestling this time in CWG 2022 actually raised a bar, wrestlers clinched so many medals. So, it doesn’t sound good, this time its wrestling, last time it was shooting which was erased, next time it could be boxing even. So I truly empathize with the players and request the federations and decision makers to re-consider the same once again. Let’s hope for the best.
Q. Are you a great foodie? Or is this a rumour?
A. Well, to be honest yes I love eating but I am not a sweet tooth gal. So, it saves me some brownie points (laughs) Also, my coach Sandhya Gurung cooks variety of healthy and tasty snacks for me, which I love to eat.
Q. You too have brought laurels to your state Assam a number of times, what message would like to give to the budding boxers of North east?
A. “Never Give Up”, that’s my mantra of success. If you fail, learn from it, draw lessons, again get up and fight with your challenges. Never say “it’s impossible”. Difficulties will keep coming, you have to face them each time with more patience and mental strength. Then only you can give your physical strength too in the ring. Just keep moving forward!
Q. You missed clinching a medal at CWG 2022, you said “CWG is not so important as it’s not an Olympic weight category, so not of much help to you”, do you still believe the same?
A. Yes definitely! Commonwealth Games is a huge platform without a doubt but my target is Paris Olympics. As I said earlier also, every loss and win is a learning, so I took CWG 2022 loss positively and have worked on myself for good.