Guwahati: From turning down invitations for several high-profile events, sacrificing her favourite cuisines, distancing herself from the noise on social media, and being confined to the personal room allotted at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel here, Tokyo Olympics medallist and reigning Asian champion Lovlina Borgohain prefers to keep a low profile as she starts preparations for the new Olympic circle.
After returning from Amman with a gold medal in the 75kg weight division at the Asian Championships, Lovlina said, “Can’t afford to waste a single minute from now on. High time I have to sustain my full focus as the Olympic circle begins.”
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A stroll at the SAI campus on a December evening ended up with a brief interaction with Lovlina, who was getting ready for the afternoon session under the watchful eyes of Elite team coaches Sundar Singh Gariya and Tridib Borah. A few laps of running, followed by warm-ups by the time darkness began to set in, and one of the coaches signaled the boxer to report in the ring for indoor training.
Like all other boxers in the camp, the two-time World Championship medallist nodded politely, collected her bag, checked her phone for a few seconds, and turned back gently to the hall. On the way, she was interrupted by a few selfie-seeking youngsters, whom she obliged with a smile before joining the other trainees inside the hall.
Well, most of the boxers did not turn up that evening as they were busy with the trials for the national championships for a couple of days. So by the time of Lovlina’s indoor training session, most of the budding boxers left the venue.
Briefed by the coaches, the Golaghat girl put on her gloves and took the ring for a round of shadow boxing, before Sundar entered the ring for a sparring session with the pugilist. After about 30 minutes of action, both stopped for drinks break. The hunger in Lovlina for a second Olympic medal is pretty evident from the hard work she puts in during each training session.
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By the time she was about to resume her session, the empty hall went completely dark, thanks to a power interruption. Flashlights of cellular devices from the four (including this scribe) somehow helped the resumption of her training. She got up to another session of shadow punching, before wrapping off the day’s schedule by around 7:00 pm with stretching.
Her training regime starts early morning around 6:00 am with energy-sapping workouts on Monday to a light session in the evenings. On Tuesdays, after the outdoor drills, the evening session involves almost a couple of hours in the ring, shadow boxing, sparring, tactical and strategic training before Wednesday morning’s drills that involve running across the stadium for a good 6-7 rounds, stretching, and fitness session. The evening session is kept light so as to avoid any fatigue.
On Thursdays, the morning starts with a round of grueling sessions inside the ring while in the evenings, it is partly outdoors, involving strength training and a few sparring sessions. The workout is strictly cut out for the weekend, with the boxer getting into hardcore training mode early on Friday before wrapping the day with a light workout, while on Saturdays, the mornings are again a mixed affair involving outdoor and indoor sessions, followed by another grueling training session in the evenings.
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For weeks, Lovlina has been undergoing the sessions and on Sundays, all she prefers is to spend time with her sister, who resides in another part of the city. “It’s difficult to go out, so I prefer to visit my sister’s place on the weekend. Sometimes my parents come down to her place, and I get to spend some quality family time.”
Her sacrifices over the past three weeks did pay off as the lanky pugilist got the better of her nemesis Arundhati Choudhary of the Services in the final of the 75kg category at the women’s national boxing championships in Bhopal on Monday. This is the second time in the year that Lovlina has defeated the world youth champion from Rajasthan.
To put things in perspective, in November 2021, Arundhati approached the Delhi High Court and sought a letter to the BFI (Boxing Federation of India) requesting a trial against the 25-year-old Assamese pugilist to select India’s representative in the 70kg category for the world championships. In the trial bout held before the postponed event in May 2022, Lovlina blanked the youngster 7-0.
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This is Lovlina’s third successive gold medal after making the switch to the 75kg weight division. She had earlier bagged the yellow metal at the 36th National Games, before securing the Asian championship crown.
Another Assam boxer in the fray on Monday, Ankushita Boro, ended up with a silver medal in the 66kg weight category after suffering a 1-4 split decision loss to local girl Manju Bamboria.
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