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Veteran Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain's father Tiken Borgohain was overjoyed after his daughter clinched her maiden Asian Games gold medal on her 29th birthday, saying the champion had worked tirelessly to change the colour of the silver she won at the previous edition.
Lovlina defeated China's Bao Ziyi 5-0 in the women's 75kg final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday to celebrate her birthday with the continental title. Speaking after her triumph, Tiken said the family was delighted to see Lovlina's hard work and determination culminate in gold. "We are absolutely delighted and overjoyed because she won the final today. Today also happens to be her birthday. This is her first Asian Games gold medal. She has worked incredibly hard. She had spoken about winning this gold. She had previously won a silver medal and wanted to change its colour. So seeing that color change now feels wonderful. I am very happy, and on her behalf, I want to thank all my fellow countrymen. So many people prayed for this, and I am deeply grateful to everyone," Lovlina's father told ANI. Lovlina, who had won silver in the 75kg category at the Hangzhou Asian Games, produced a composed performance against Bao in the final. The Chinese boxer started aggressively and threw a flurry of punches in the opening round, but Lovlina stayed patient and landed effective counter punches to edge the round 3-2. Bao continued to press in the second round, but Lovlina appeared more confident and landed the cleaner punches. She took the round 4-1 to establish a 2-0 lead. The Indian maintained her strategy in the final round, allowing Bao to come forward while looking for counter-punching opportunities. She was awarded the round unanimously to complete a 5-0 victory. The gold capped a strong campaign for Lovlina, who had earlier defeated Kazakhstan's Natalya Bogdanova 3-2 in a split decision in the semifinal. The victory made her the first Indian woman boxer to reach consecutive Asian Games finals. Born on October 2, 1997, in Assam's Golaghat district, Lovlina has also won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and became world champion in the women's 75kg category in 2023. She had earlier won gold at the 2022 Asian Championships and silver at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Her achievements have also earned her the Arjuna Award in 2020 and the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021. Lovlina's gold took India's medal tally at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to 70, including 12 gold, 24 silver and 34 bronze. (ANI)
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