Feels proud to be the first Assamese woman Olympian, states Lovlina Borgohain

Lovlina Borgahain secured a Tokyo Olympics berth after edging past Uzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Meleiva 5-0 in the quarter-finals of Asian Olympic Qualifiers. Thus, she also became the first Assamese woman to qualify for the mega-event, with her slated to take part in the women’s 69kg event in Tokyo.

“I feel proud that I will be the first Assamese to represent India at the Olympics and make my nation proud. I will make sure to give my best and break my record,” she said, during an interview with news18.

But, things were not smooth for the pugilist, as she contracted Covid-19 vrius and returned to her hometown to visit her grandmother. As a consequence, she was out of action for months and even missed the 52-day Europe exposure tour that was sanctioned for 16 elite boxers. However, she always remained positive and recovered from the situation.

“I had contracted Covid-19, it was challenging time as my health did not allow me to train at all. I tried to keep myself positive and motivated, used to do meditation and I choose to focus on the future possibilities, make myself better,” said the 23-year old athlete.

“My journey back to fitness was challenging. When I was home, did have problems training as I did not have much equipment in the beginning. I was sent some and could finally get back to training again. Initially after recovering, it was hard to train but slowly and steadily started getting back to form.”