Women’s boxing Worlds: Day by day, Lovlina Borgohain is getting ‘better and better’

“Day by day, I am doing better and better.” Lovlina Borgohain makes sure she writes this sentence in her diary after getting up in the morning. She has done that for the last two years, since she began keeping a diary. But during the ongoing boxing world championships in New Delhi, she has not written anything in her diary. Not until Tuesday.

Before becoming one of India’s four boxers to confirm a medal on Tuesday, Lovlina had vowed to only write in her diary if she won a medal at the Worlds. With that accomplished, the Assam boxer is now happy to write a new entry in her dairy.

But going by her own mantra, she wants more than her confirmed bronze medal. She wants to finish the tournament only with a gold medal for which she has to win two more bouts. For now she is confident that she will be able to.

“I have been writing in the diary for two years but it’s not like I write everything,” she said. “I write my special moments and today is special. Everyday I write, ‘Day by day I am doing better and better.’”

Better she has been. After getting past Atheyna Bylon of Panama in the first round, Lovlina beat former world championship silver medallist Kaye Scott of Australia by a unanimous decision to enter the semi-finals of the 69 kg weight category at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium.

Inspiration from Mary

Before her “important” bout, Lovlina had the obvious butterflies in her stomach, knowing that a loss here would shatter her dreams. Much-needed help came from senior boxer Mary Kom.

“Before the competition, she told me to do a certain thing and it was really good,” Lovlina said. “Boxing is so easy for her so we keep learning by talking to her.”

The bout, however, was smooth sailing for her. Apart from a tough second round, Lovlina rarely looked in trouble against Scott. She threw some strong punches, especially in the third round which sealed the deal for her.

A medal at the world championships is one of the high points of the Assam boxer’s career. After winning the India Open gold in January, she lost a close bout at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year. At the Worlds, she wanted to compensate for that.

“The loss in CWG did not affect me much because it was very close,” she said. “But this tournament is very important for me. This is a tougher competition than CWG. I had to prepare hard here, a mistake I did not want to repeat after Commonwealth. I lacked strength and conditioning then so I prepared for that.”

Lovlina has looked one of the fittest competitors in New Delhi despite boxing on two consecutive days. She looked fresh for Tuesday’s bout. One of the reasons for that, she said, is that she used to practice Muay Thai when she was a kid in Golaghat, Assam.

“I used to be good at Muay Thai so that kept me fit,” she said. “It was also the reason I was selected for boxing in 2012 at SAI (Sports Authority of India) Guwahati. One of my sports teachers at school asked me to try boxing and I did. I knew little of boxing in 2012 but I won a gold medal.”

Beginning a career in boxing meant she had to leave her home and stay at SAI hostels, first in Guwahati and then in New Delhi. It was challenge for both Lovlina and her parents.

“I only went out of home to go to school and now suddenly I was going away,” she said. “I had a lot of problems at the beginning because it was first time for me away from home. I was very sad. I had no friends in hostel and I cried a lot. My parents were also sad. I took a lot of time to adjust.”

In the national camp for two years now, Lovlina has adjusted to the life of a boxer. She has also grown close to fellow Assamese Bhagyabati Kachari in the camp and calls her parents everyday over WhatsApp.

Turning point

For now, she is focussed on winning a gold medal at the Worlds, a tournament that may prove to be the turning point in her career.

“Winning a gold here is my dream,” she said. “My weight is also included in the Olympics so it is very important and I have to beat everyone. The first competitor I faced has played at Olympics.”

The 23-year-old next faces Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen, who has caused a few upsets in the tournament, but that has not affected Lovlina. She knows the personal incentives that will follow if she wins a gold here.

“I would have felt bad had I lost the quarter-final,” she said. “I wanted a medal after CWG. But now I want a medal here so that I can go home. I miss my parents so when I go I can talk for long. I can also eat new dishes there as reducing weight will not be a problem after the competition.”

Lovlina knows that she has come a long way since beginning in 2012 but she still wants to learn, especially from the senior boxers like Mary Kom and Sarita Devi.

“The boxers before me were good,” she said. “We try to learn from them and I thought I should keep preparing and win a gold here. The new boxers are getting a lot of opportunities. We learn from Mary as she keeps saying, ‘Keep boxing like this and keep going.’”

Lovlina has to keep going so that she can write about her special moment in the diary, especially if she wins a gold medal. “For this championship I have not written anything,” she said. “I wanted to win a medal, so maybe I will write now. But a gold would be really special.”