Tokyo Olympics: I had prepared for gold, says Lovlina Borgohain after winning bronze

Aug 04, 2021

Tokyo [Japan], August 4 : Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain was not satisfied after taking the bronze medal in the women's welterweight (64-69kg) category as she stated she had prepared for gold at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey defeated Borgohain by a unanimous decision of 5-0. All five judges gave decisions in the favour of Turkish pugilist as she stamped her dominance.
"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," Lovlina told reporters after her bout.
"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, this time around."
Talking about the bout, the 23-year-old stated that, "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."
"Since I have started boxing I always dreamt of playing in the Olympics and winning the gold here. I use to do every work and training session thinking about the Olympics. Am feeling good currently that a medal came in the Olympics but my expectations were not met."
"I learned many things, earlier I didn't have self-belief and confidence but now I don't face anything like that," she said.
The top-seed from Turkey will now face either USA's Oshae Jones or China's Hong Gu in the final.