Paris Olympics: Lovlina Borgohain loses quarterfinal to China’s Li Qian as India’s boxing campaign ends

Paris: Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain crashed out of the Paris Olympics after losing to China’s Li Qian in the women’s 75kg quarterfinal at North Paris Arena here on Sunday.

With Lovlina’s 1-4 split result in the quarterfinal, India’s boxing campaign ended in Paris without a medal. Previously, Nishant Dev lost to Mexico’s Marco Verde in the men’s 71kg quarterfinals on Sunday. Six Indian boxers earned the quota for the Olympics including four women and two men in the Games.

Qian won the first round with a 3-2 split decision and also took the second round by an identical margin. The Indian boxer failed to close the gap in the third and final round as the judges favoured the top-seed Chinese boxer with a 4-1 decision. Qian will now progress to the semifinal.

Lovlina missed the opportunity to bag her second Olympic medal to become the fourth Indian athlete and third Indian woman to do so after Sushil Kumar, PV Sindhu and Manu Bhaker.

Lovlina had previously defeated Sunniva Hofstad of Norway 5-0 in the Round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals. Despite Sunniva’s attempt to get off to an aggressive start, Borgohain carefully established her dominance in the game with some great defense after not facing much of a challenge.

Lovlina did not give her any chance to impose her game. Despite Sunnia’s attempt, the Indian managed to outscore the Norwegian in all three rounds.

–IANS