Bronze assured: Lovlina packs a right punch, storms into semis

This is a matter of great pride that India will get a medal in boxing. Welterweight boxer Lovlina Borgohain defeated Taipei’s boxer Chen Nien. Now she will face Turkish boxer Surmene Busenaz in the semi-finals, who is indeed one of the finest women pugilist of today’s era.

I watched Surmene’s quarterfinal bout against a Ukrainian boxer before Lovlina’s bout. Surmene has amazing combinations of punches and excellent accuracy. To be honest, I became very emotional while watching her bout. I was reminded of my old days. Some of her movements are very similar to my movements when I was playing. Her defensive movement and the ability to counterattack while staying in the range are rare.

The only thing I would say about Surmene is that given the kind of style of play she has, she can be successful in attacking the opponent in every attempt. Perhaps due to these qualities, this boxer won the gold medal in the 2019 World Championship.

My advice to Lovlina is to stay in the same position while fighting long distances and strike back. Also, according to the terminology of boxing, if she plays circle to left, circle to right or you can say right-left movement, then she may be successful in challenging the Turkish boxer. The Taipei boxer played like a fighter against Lovlina. The way Lovlina played, it was the right strategy to play against a fighter.

While I had high hopes from Simranjit Kaur, the Thai boxer made the most of her experiences against her. She was running smoothly after scoring. Although it was decided in the first two rounds that the Thai boxer had won this bout, but in the third round, Simranjit was under pressure or whatever you call her, her shell guard was also down in this round. The Thai boxer made good use of her skills there and punched on the target. It never seemed that this bout could be in Simran’s hands.

The absence of a doctor with the Indian boxing contingent is very unfortunate. There is a high chance of injury in this game. Truth be told, there is a need for a physio and a doctor team with all combat sports, but still, it would have been better if all these issues had arisen before the Olympics.

The author is a former Olympian and an Arjuna Awardee.