Good Sports: Boxer Hopes to Provide Opportunities through Sports
Lovlina Borgohain, a 26-yearold boxer from Assam, won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, joining Mary Kom and Vijender Singh as the only Indian boxers to win Olympic medals in boxing. She has qualified for the Paris Olympics and hopes to become India’s first multiple medalist in boxing.
But she’s also thinking about her mission after this year’s Summer Games. “I am not sure if I want to continue boxing after Paris Olympics but I have a bigger mission going forward,” said Borgohain, speaking on the podcast Fit India Champions. “There are many villages in Assam and the North-East where it’s not easy to emerge from acute poverty. I am a classic example.”
Borgohain’s parents made sacrifices to support her athletic career. She began training in Muay Thai, a combat sport, as a 10-year-old and later switched to boxing, eventually becoming the first woman from Assam to qualify for the Olympics. “I want to use sports to enhance the lives of underprivileged children,” she said. “There are so many needy people looking for an opportunity to shine. Sports is that medium that can make a difference and I want to explore that.”
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Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
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