HANGZHOU, Oct 4: Tokyo Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain put up a lacklustre display to settle for a silver as Indian boxers signed off with a haul of five medals at the Asian Games here on Wednesday.
Parveen Hooda couldn’t overcome the height disadvantage against two-time world champion Lin Yu Ting of Chinese Taipei in the women’s 57kg semifinal to sign off with a bronze.
Borgohain’s defensive performance cost her the gold as she was out-punched in the lop-sided final.
The reigning world champion was thrashed by home favourite and two-time Olympic medallist Li Qian in the 75kg final. With Borgohain’s loss, India’s campaign came to an end. The country’s boxers thus signed off with five medals, including one silver and four bronze. In the last edition, India had won a gold and a bronze.
“I gave my best but could not bring the gold. I am happy with my performance. I will try to change the colour of the medal in the Olympics,” Borgohain said after the bout. “I committed some mistakes like I was playing closer to the opponent and got a point cut. I will work on the mistakes I committed,” she added. Fighting for gold, both Borgohain and Qian looked tentative, trying to size each other up.
Borgohain, the reigning Asian champion, was unwilling to attack until the referee asked her to start fighting following which she landed right punch.
The two boxers did throw punches at each other but without much accuracy with none of them making much of an impression in the first round, which involved a lot of clinching. Borgohain was warned twice for holding and Qian narrowly took the round 3-2. The second round followed a similar script with both boxers clinching each other. Borgohain was once again passive and after her third warning, she was hit with a point deduction for excessive holding.
Trailing after the first two rounds, Borgohain needed to be proactive but the Indian seemed content with silver. “Also there were lots of positive which I can take. Qualifying for Olympics from this tournament was more important to me and I achieved it,” she added. (PTI)
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