India's boxing campaign at the ongoing Olympics came to a medal-less end after bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) withdrew following a hard-fought quarter-final loss to China's Li Qian in the women's event on Sunday. Borgohain, the reigning world champion in the category, went down 1-4 to the 34-year-old Tokyo silver medallist in a scrappy contest that saw both boxers repeatedly warned against clinching and holding. The 26-year-old's defeat ended India's boxing campaign at the Olympics after Nishant Dev was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the men's 71kg event on Saturday night, also a thrilling contest.
A six-member boxing contingent, consisting of four women and two men, represented the country at the Games. Four of them had already dropped out in the preliminary rounds.
The match started well, as Borgohain and Qian quickly came into a clinch.
But none of the boxers seemed willing to make the first attack.
The holding and clinching started quite early in the match and the referee had to intervene repeatedly to separate the two old opponents.
Qian seemed determined, while Borgohain quickly appeared to be the more lively of the two.
The Chinese combined a number of clean combination punches and a left hook towards the end of the first round, and was particularly impressive before taking a 3-2 lead in the match.
The second round started no differently, but Qian was more focused in her approach. Her right straights were on target, while Borgohain was warned twice for excessive holding.
Once again the score was 3-2 in Qian's favor, but this time other judges ruled in her favor. She only had a small lead of one point on one card, while the remaining four cards were tied.
The holding and holding continued in the third round and both women seemed a bit exhausted.
However, Qian showed great presence of mind to keep Borgohain at bay. Borgohain was unable to control the pace of the match and was repeatedly hit on counterattacks.
The Assamese had fought Qian in the final of the Asian Games last year and lost 0-5. Later, she defeated Qian in the semi-final of the 2023 World Championship.
But recently the veteran defeated her at a pre-Olympic tournament in the Czech Republic in June.
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