India's Lovlina Borgohain, in blue. PTI
Sports

Lovlina Borgohain moves to semifinal; assured of Asian Games medal

Competing in her first bout of the tournament, Lovlina defeated South Korea's Seong Suyeon 5-0 in the quarterfinals, assuring herself of at least a bronze medal

PTI

NISHIO (JAPAN): Lovlina Borgohain's medal collection continued to swell as the seasoned Indian boxer assured herself of a second consecutive Asian Games podium finish by storming into the women's 75kg semifinals with a win over South Korea's Seong Suyeon here on Monday.

Competing in her first bout of the tournament, Lovlina defeated South Korea's Seong Suyeon 5-0 in the quarterfinals, assuring herself of at least a bronze medal.

The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist had won silver at the previous edition in Hangzhou in 2023.

With the Commonwealth Games silver she won last month, the Assam boxer has now won medals at all the big-ticket events, including the World Championships, Asian Games, Asian Championships and World Cup.

Lovlina started on the offensive with her 1-2 combination. She employed her jab and cross effectively to unsettle Seong, who struggled to connect despite having a slight height advantage.

In the second round, Lovlina continued to land clean combinations of crosses and hooks, but was slightly vulnerable in defence as Seong threw a barrage of punches.

The closely contested their round round saw the Korean enjoy better range with her height advantage, but Lovlina was more agile and quicker with her movement. Her punches were also cleaner and more effective.

She will take on reigning 70kg world champion Natalya Bogdanova of Kazakhstan in the last four stage.

With the win, Lovlina thus joins the likes of Parveen Hooda (65kg), Ankush Panghal (80kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg), who all cruised into the semifinals on Sunday.

Later in the day, Priya Ghanghas (60kg) and Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) will vie for a semifinal spot in their respective weight categories.

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