Lovlina Borgohain at Paris Olympics Boxing: Who will be Indian Olympian’s top challengers

Alongside Nikhat Zareen in the 50-kg category, Lovlina Borgohain is another boxing star who will be a favourite to land India a medal in boxing in the 75-kg category. A vastly experienced pugilist, the Assam-born star already has an Olympic bronze in her kitty from the 2020 Tokyo edition. She also won a gold medal at the Asian Championships in 2022 and a silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 and qualified for Paris after becoming a world champion in Delhi.

Borgohain looks in top form heading into the Olympics, hoping to snag her second medal in the world athletics’ grandest stage but the road ahead will not be easy for her due to top quality opposition as well as a change in her weight class at this Olympics. Here are some of her closest rivals standing in her way of a podium finish.

Li Qian (CHN)

One of Lovlina’s chief adversaries is the Chinese boxer Li Qian who won the silver in the 2020 Olympics and gold in the middleweight category in the 2023 Asian Games in her home country. A worrying stat for India has emerged from these two boxers’ head-to-head with Lovlina failing to get the better of the Chinese since defeating her on her way to a gold medal in the World Championships in 2023, at home in New Delhi. After that, Qian has had the 26-year-old’s number, having won against her in the Asian Games and the Grand Prix in Czech Republic in 2024. But most of their bouts in recent history are closely matched with not much to separate the two.

Cindy Ngamba (Refugee team)

Another tough task in front of Lovlina will be to get past Cindy Ngamba, the first boxer ever to be included in the IOC’s refugee team. The two athletes have already locked horns against each other with Ngamba coming up trumps against the Indian in the Grand Prix in Czech Republic last month. That was also Lovlina’s second defeat in the 75 kg category and she will be wary of locking horns against Ngamba in Paris. The Cameroon-born athlete whose parents had to leave the country due to the civil unrest in 2009, will be looking to make history by winning a gold in Paris. Ngamba is a tough test for any boxer competing for a podium finish.

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Khadija El-Mar (MAR)

The Moroccan boxer who won a gold medal in the 81+ kg category in the World Championships in Delhi in 2023, will be cutting down on her weight class in the Paris Olympics and is set to compete in the 75 kg category which adds another wrinkle in Lovlina’s quest for a podium finish. She secured her qualification for Paris at the Africa Boxing Qualifiers in Dakar, defeating Kenya’s Elizabeth Andiego. The now 32-year-old had previously competed in the 75 kg category in the 2016 Rio Olympics where she had reached the quarterfinal. Giving birth to her third child meant that the Tokyo Olympics had to be given a miss. Standing at 6 ft, the African athlete will be looking to dominate her category in Paris and stands as a huge obstacle in front of Lovlina.

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