Lovlina Borgohain says 'hard work paid off' as she wins Bronze at Tokyo Olympics 2020

Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain had to settle for the bronze medal after losing to Turkey's Busenaz Surmeneli in the women's welterweight event at the Tokyo Olympics. Lovlina lost 5-0 in the 69kg semi-final match on Wednesday, August 4, at Kokugikan Arena. Lovlina became the third Indian athlete at this year's Olympics to bring a medal for India then. Lovlina was the second Indian to win bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games after shuttler PV Sindhu. Earlier, Manipur's Mirabai Chanu won silver for India in weightlifting and Neeraj Chopra won Gold.

Lovlina took to Twitter to talk about her bronze triumph saying that her years of hard work had finally paid off and that it was always her dream to win an Olympic medal and she looks to change the medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. She also said that she dedicates the medal to the entire nation.

Lovlina lost the first round 5-0 as all the five judges in the panel raised their hands in Surmeneli's favour. Lovlina started off well in the second round but the Turkish boxer soon bounced back with a response to her powerful punches. Lovlina got five 9s, while her opponent managed to score five 10s to win the second round as well. In the third round, Surmeneli looked more aggressive but Lovlina fought until the bell rang. Surmeneli was crowned winner of the bout and was given a pass for the gold medal match, while Lovlina had to settle for bronze.

Lovlina says "Every time I have to settle for bronze so I am feeling bad about it."

Lovlina, after her bout, said, "Definitely not feeling good, as I have lost the match. Every time I have to settle for bronze so I am feeling bad about it. A medal is a medal even if it is of Olympic or inter-district. I had prepared for gold and I was 100% sure that I will take the gold."

When asked about the fight, the 23-year-old said, "She (Busenaz Surmeneli) was very strong. I knew she will come forward and I thought if I backed down then she will punch me harder. So that's why I thought of coming on my front foot but I failed to successfully deploy my strategy. I thought of returning the punches against her that I received but I failed."

(Image: @LovlinaBorgohai - Twitter)