Bengaluru, Jul 30 : The Boxing Federation of India is pinning hopes on debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) to win gold medal at Tokyo Olympics after she stormed into the semifinal by defeating Chinese Taipei’s former world champion Nien-Chin Chen.

“I have said to Lovlina today, this is just a start. She needs to plan carefully and ensure she wins gold for India. Lovlina is symbolic of a young, new, and fearless India. I am sure that young boxers like her will ensure many more Olympic medals in the future,” BFI BFI President Ajay Singh said in a statement.

With this win, Lovlina has assured India of their first boxing medal at the mega sports event.

Lovlina is a born fighter as she recovered from covid last year and was admitted to the hospital, but she braved all the hardships to achieve the milestone of reaching semifinals of Tokyo Olympics in the boxing event.

“It was a very courageous effort by Lovlina, indeed. She was down with covid last year and was admitted to the hospital. Her mother too was going through a life-threatening ailment. But Lovlina is a born fighter. This is a huge milestone for Indian boxing and the way this young girl has proved herself makes us all proud,” Singh said.

The 23-year-old Assam boxer will square off with Turkey’s reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli, who ounched her way through to victory by hammering Ukraine’s Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.

Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past.

“It is a proud moment for not only boxing but also for Assam and for India. We at BFI would like to congratulate her on this achievement. This is also a testament to the process that we followed in the last four years,” he said.(UNI)