Guwahati: Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain, recently crowned the world champion in women’s 75kg category, on Thursday revealed her plans of setting up a Foundation that will work towards creating awareness among budding athletes on many subjects, including the menace of doping.
Christened as Lovlina Foundation, the organisation will initially aim at 1,000 athletes from across the state, and work towards raising awareness on diet and nutrition, the importance of undergoing treatment from designated medical professionals, and more importantly, avoiding self-prescribed medicines by athletes and their coaches.
The star pugilist, currently on a brief break from the national camp in Patiala, told EastMojo that she has had a few rounds of discussions with the Assam Olympic Association, as the foundation will cater to athletes of various disciplines, and won’t be restricted to boxing.
“Initially, we are planning to start the Lovlina Foundation in Assam, where we will include around 1,000 athletes from various sporting disciplines, and raise awareness on sensitive issues, including doping. It is very necessary to guide our youngsters against the use of non-prescribed drugs that might jeopardise their careers,” Lovlina said on the sidelines of the felicitation event organized by the Assam Olympic Association (AOA) here.
Explaining further on her proposed project, the Golaghat-born pugilist said, “We will have a team of experts, comprising coaches, fitness experts, and medical professionals to look after the athletes and their well-being. Initially, we’ll start in the state before gradually moving to the other states.”
Former Assam Chief Minister and current Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, who also is the AOA president, also had a word of caution for young athletes, who are more susceptible to performance-enhancing drugs.
“Your food is your medicine. No medicine can heal your body better than your food, so it is always advisable to have the adequate quantity of food that your body wants, and not fall for greed. Sports science and medicine, and food supplement awareness are the major areas of focus in the sports universities,” said the former union sports minister.
Emphasising the Narendra Modi-led central government’s focus on the region, Sonowal said, “The establishment of a sports university in Manipur is an outcome of our PM’s vision and love for the NE, which he terms New Engine of growth.”
AOA secretary and Athletics Federation of India (AFI) vice president Lakhya Konwar also highlighted the impact of the tournaments like the Assam Youth Olympics and hoped that the upcoming second edition in Dibrugarh will help unearth more sporting talents from the state. He also praised the Assam duo of Parthiv Sundar Gogoi and Apurna Narzary, for leading the respective Under-23 men’s and women’s national football teams.
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“When we organised the Assam Youth Olympics last year, many state Olympic Associations were curious how we pulled it off successfully. After all, it isn’t easy to conduct a tournament of that magnitude where around 4,500 athletes and 1,500 officials took part. It was a task, and we are up for the challenge as we look forward to hosting the second edition in a few months in Dibrugarh,” Konwar said.
During the event, Commonwealth Games gold medallist lawn bowls player Nayanmoni Saikia, and Boxing Federation of India (BFI) general secretary Hemanta Kalita were also felicitated along with Lovlina, with a cash award of Rs 50,000 each. Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita was also present on the occasion.
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