Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain weighing 69kg advanced to the quarterfinals in her debut Olympic appearance, defeating German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely-fought last-16 stage on Tuesday.
Borgohain, the lndian boxer, prevailed 3-2 over her rival who is 12 years her senior. Both the boxers were making their Games debut and the Indian became the first from her nine-strong team to make the quarterfinal stage.
The 23-year-old claimed all the three rounds on split points.
The 35-year-old Apetz was the first German woman to qualify for a boxing event at the Olympics and also a two-time world championship bronze-medalist and a former European champion.
Onwards! đĨđĨ
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) July 27, 2021
Power packed punching from Lovlina Borgohain lands her a last eight slot as she wins 3-2 against Nadine Apetz of #GER in the women's 69kg welterweight category! đ #IND #Tokyo2020 | #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion | @LovlinaBorgohai pic.twitter.com/Y9rserNmyR
Lovlina is a two-time World and Asian championships bronze-medalist. She will next face Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen, who is fourth and a former world champion, on July 30. A win in that would assure Lovlina of at least a bronze medal at the mega-event.
Chen was also a silver-medalist at the 2019 Asian Championships and defeated Italy’s Angela Carini.
The Indian youngster, hailing from Assam, was the aggressor in the opening round before she changed strategy to play the waiting game, drawing Apetz in to punish her on counter-attack.
Apetz is a pioneering name in German boxing. She is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience, which she put on hold for a year to prepare for the Olympics. Apetz made the Games cut after reaching the semifinals of the European Qualification Tournament last year.
