Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) superior to the quarterfinals in her debut Olympic look, defeating German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely-fought last-16 stage bout on Tuesday (July 27). Borgohain, the lone Indian boxer in motion on the day, prevailed 3-2 over her rival who’s 12 years her senior. Each the boxers had been making their Video games debut and the Indian grew to become the primary from her nine-strong crew to make the quarterfinal stage.
The 23-year-old confirmed nice poise in a tense contest to triumph by the thinnest of margins. She claimed all of the three rounds on cut up factors. The 35-year-old Apetz was the primary German girl to qualify for a boxing occasion on the Olympics and likewise a two-time world championship bronze-medallist and a former European champion.
Borgohain is a two-time World and Asian championships bronze-medallist. She is going to subsequent face Chinese language Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen, who’s seeded fourth and a former world champion, on July 30. A win in that bout would guarantee Borgohain of not less than a bronze medal on the mega-event.
Chen was additionally a silver-medallist on the 2019 Asian Championships and defeated Italy’s Angela Carini 3-2 in her pre-quarterfinal bout.
What a debut for @LovlinaBorgohai at #Olympics she defeats ‘s N Apetz 3-2 and advances to quarters, 1 step away from securing medal in 69 kg class at @Tokyo2020 #RingKeBaazigar#boxing#Tokyo2020#Cheer4India#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/nmKug5BX0E
— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) July 27, 2021
The Indian teenager, hailing from Assam, was the aggressor within the opening spherical earlier than she modified technique to play the ready recreation, drawing Apetz in to punish her on counter-attack.
The plan labored out simply nice regardless of the German’s well-placed jabs typically troubling Borgohain.
Borgohain relied totally on her left hooks to maintain the slender edge. Apetz is a pioneering identify in German boxing. She is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience, which she placed on maintain for a yr to arrange for the Olympics.
Apetz made the Video games minimize after reaching the semifinals of the European Qualification Event final yr.
(with PTI inputs)