Paris Olympics: Boxer Lovlina Borgohain crashes out after losing in quarterfinals to China’s Li Qian

Paris [France], August 4 (ANI): India’s boxer Lovlina Borgohain missed out on a medal as she lost her quarterfinal bout to China’s Li Qian in the women’s 75 KG category by 4:1 in the ongoing Paris Olympics on Sunday.

The Chinese boxer had edged the first two rounds of a closely contested match. However, she raised her game in the final round to win against the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist.

Lovlina lost the first and second sets of the match with a split decision of 3:2 in favour of the Chinese boxer.

In the third and final round, the result was 4:1 in favour of Li Qian. The Indian boxer lost the match with a scoreline of 1:4.

With this defeat, India’s campaign in boxing ended.

In the Round of 16, Lovlina defeated Sunniva Hofstad 5-0 in the women’s 75 kg round of 16 bouts on Wednesday. Borgohain, a bronze medalist in the 69 kg category at Tokyo 2020, is seeded eighth in her first 75 kg Olympic tournament.

Making her Summer Games debut, the 20-year-old Hofstad adopted an aggressive approach in the first two rounds. However, Lovlina was resolute in defence, smothering her opponent’s punches while countering with precision, according to Olympics.com.

The Norwegian boxer improved in the third round, but it wasn’t enough to outscore the reigning Asian Games silver medallist. With this win, Borgohain advanced to the quarterfinals.

Earlier in the day, India boxer Nishant Dev narrowly missed out on a medal after falling short in the men’s 71 kg quarterfinals at the ongoing marquee event.

Nishant dominated the first round against Mexico’s Marco Verde. But the Mexican boxer made ground and eventually scripted a comeback to ensure a medal for his country.

In round one, Nishant got off to an aggressive start, and the Mexican ducked around to evade the flurry of blows that came his way. The 23-year-old boxer connected with a couple of blows towards the end. He was rewarded for his aggressive approach, and four judges favoured Nishant.

In round two, Nishant continued with his intensity and jabbed straight, and Verde failed to cover up. The bout started to turn around after Verde started to exert pressure on Nishant. The second round ended in a split decision favouring Verde 3:2. In round three, Verde adopted a much more aggressive approach and landed a combination of punches. Verde cornered Nishant and connected with some uppercuts.

The fatigue started to reflect in Nishant’s body language, and Verde once again pinned him to the corner. The Mexican boxer made a comeback and won the quarterfinals by 4:1.