Paris (France): Tokyo Olympics bronze-medalist Lovlina Borgohain faltered in her quarterfinal bout as she lost to Chinese top seed Li Qian in the women's 75kg quarterfinal, ending India's boxing campaign at the Paris Olympics, here on Sunday.
Lovlina suffered a 1-4 loss in a split verdict against her Chinese rival. After Nikhat Zareen's elimination, Lovlina was the favourite to win a medal for consecutive times. But the Chinese top seed came up in full spirits to win the bout.
Two bronze are awarded in boxing and hence losers in the semifinals don't play bronze medal clash like other sports in Olympic.
A win would have assured a medal for Lovlina atleast assuring a bronze. At Tokyo 2020, Lovlina won the bronze in the 69kg category to become only the third Indian boxer after Vijender Singh and Mary Kom to win a medal at the Olympics.
However, her pet 69kg category had been scrapped from the Olympic boxing weight classes, prompting her to move up to 75kg. The Assam pugilist has adapted well to her new division and is the reigning world champion in the same.The only seeded Indian boxer at the ongoing Summer Games, Lovlina started her campaign with a 5-0 unanimous win against Sunniva Hofstad of Norway earlier this week.
Notably, Lovlina was at the receiving end during the Asian Games final last year, where she went down 5-0 to Qian and settled for a silver. (With IANS inputs)
