Tokyo: Welterweight Boxer Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) lost to reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the Olympic semifinals here on Wednesday.
Lovlina will settle for Bronze. She lost in unanimous verdict.
Round 1: Lovlina lost to Surmeneli with all the judges giving 10 points to the Turkish boxer.
Round 2: The world champ was too strong for Lovlina, and there was yet another loss in unanimous verdict.
Round 3: Lovlina lost the third round too.
"I don't know what to say. I could not execute what I had planned. I could have done better," Borgohain told PTI after the loss.
The two boxers had never faced each other before and it was an unchartered territory for both of them.
Up against quite literally a bully in the ring, Borgohain was completely out-punched by the gold medal favourite, who produced a thoroughly dominating performance.
The Assam boxer also coped a one point deduction in the second round for not paying attention to the referee's instructions despite a couple of cautions.
The Indian's start was not all that bad as she stood up to the strong challenge but she came undone after Surmeneli got down to connecting her vicious hooks and body shots.
The third round was especially punishing for Borgohain, who faced two standing eight counts during the bout.
Nonetheless, Borgohain goes home a history-maker as the 23-year-old, who started her career as a Muay Thai practitioner, has become only the third Indian boxer to ensure a podium finish at the showpiece after Vijender Singh (2008) and M C Mary Kom (2012).
Hers is also the first Olympic medal in Indian boxing in nine years.
About the two boxers:
Surmeneli is also 23 and has collected two gold medals this year internationally. The former middle-weight (75kg) boxer claims to have promised an Olympic medal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan back in 2015 itself.
The 23-year-old from Assam, who started her career as a Muay Thai practitioner, a few days ago had become only the third Indian boxer to ensure a podium finish at the showpiece after Vijender Singh (2008) and MC Mary Kom (2012). Hers was also the first Olympic medal in boxing for India.
Surmeneli, also 23, has collected two gold medals this year internationally. The former middlewight (75kg) boxer claims to have promised an Olympic medal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan back in 2015 itself.
For Borgohain, she has two world championship bronze medals so far in her career. In fact, both Borgohain and Surmeneli competed in the 2019 championships, from where the latter came out champion, while the former settled for a bronze.
(With inputs from PTI)
