Always smiling, calm and composed, Lovlina Borgohain hardly looks intimidating outside the boxing ring. Inside it, however, the 5'10 " Assamese boxer is a different proposition altogether, aggressive, relentless and determined to impose herself on her opponent. That contrast sums up Lovlina perfectly.
Lovlina won gold in the women’s 75kg category at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, moving up from a silver medal in the previous edition. And she did it on her birthday. Lovlina defeated China’s Bao Ziyi 5-0 in the final on October 2 to win her maiden Asian Games gold. She is only the second Indian woman boxer after Mary Kom to win Asian Games gold, and the first Indian woman boxer to reach consecutive Asian Games finals. May Kom triumphed in the 2024 Asian Games.
“I’m feeling very, very good. It was my dream to win a gold medal at the Asian Games and that dream has now come true. I’m living that moment, so it’s a very special feeling for me,” Lovlina told Reporter World.
Celebrations began soon after Lovlina landed in India. Felicitations and public appearances have surrounded the boxer since her return.
“These are very special moments for an athlete, when you come back with a medal. Meeting your own people gives you such a special feeling. It’s also a proud moment,” she said while travelling to another felicitation event.
And what was the first thing she did upon returning? “I ate pani puri. I was craving Indian food,” came the Lovlina response.
Born in Assam’s Golaghat district, Lovlina comes from a humble background and had to work her way up through years of training and setbacks. She first made her mark at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, winning bronze in the 69 kg category in 2021. But the weight class that brought her success was subsequently removed from the Olympic programme ahead of Paris 2024.
Lovlina therefore had to move up to the 75 kg division. The switch sounds simple, but it was anything but. For most athletes, training means trying to maintain or reduce body weight. Lovlina suddenly had to do the opposite.
“Gaining weight is not an easy thing for an athlete. When we train, our body weight normally goes down. Athletes usually train to control their weight,” she said. “In my case, it was the opposite. I was training, my weight was going down, but I needed to gain weight.” The process affected her speed, reactions and power.
“When you try to gain weight, you have to eat. Initially, the process involves gaining some fat and then converting that into muscle,” she explained.
“So, in the beginning, I gained fat and that made me slower. When your weight goes up, everything becomes slower: your reactions, your reflexes, everything. Your body doesn’t function in the same way. If you don’t have enough muscle, you don’t have the power either.”
The transition came with immediate setbacks. Lovlina suffered early exits at major competitions after moving up to 75 kg, including the Commonwealth Games and World Championships.
“After gaining weight and changing my weight category, I lost two major competitions back-to-back,” she said. “After winning at the Olympics and then losing at smaller competitions, the mental situation becomes very difficult. That was also very tough for me.”
But she kept going. And in 2023, the decision to move up began to look like the right one when Lovlina became world champion in the women’s 75 kg division. But she suffered another setback at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
After winning Olympic bronze in Tokyo, Lovlina failed to win a medal in Paris. For an athlete who had spent years setting targets and working towards them, the disappointment was overwhelming.
“That journey wasn’t easy. When I lost at the 2024 Olympics, I was feeling very bad from within,” she said. “When you work extremely hard, set a target for yourself and have so many expectations from yourself, and then the result doesn’t go the way you wanted, it hurts a lot.”
“At that point, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to box again. I was very confused about what to do, whether I should continue or quit boxing.” It was a crossroads, but she had people around her who refused to let her give up.
“There were a lot of people who helped me during this journey and never let me give up,” she said. “When we put too much pressure on ourselves and think, ‘I have to achieve this’, sometimes, when that goal doesn’t happen, we completely break down,” she said.
“But that experience taught me to stay in my moment and live in the present. Yes, you need a target and a goal, but you should focus the most on your work.” That change in mindset became an important part of her comeback.
Lovlina had already won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. Three years later, she returned to the continental stage with one objective: to change its colour. She did exactly that and now Los Angeles 2028 is the target.
“But there’s no pressure. We’ll do it with a free mind,” Lovlina said. “And I’ll try to make these next two years the best of my life.”