By Sahil Kohli

New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): Newly-crowned Asian Games gold medalist boxer Lovlina Borgohain opened up on her success at this year's continental showpiece, saying that the mindset was to bring back home gold, not place overwhelming expectations and to enjoy her game while staying in the present. She also spoke on learning from the hard work and energy put in by younger boxers despite having accomplished so much in her career. 

Lovlina, who etched her name in boxing history as India's first Asian Games gold medalist in the women's 75 kg category, was speaking on the sidelines of the unveiling of 'The State of Protein & Fiber in Urban India report' by  PepsiCo India, Euromonitor International and the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), supported by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Speaking to ANI about her Asian Games gold medal, she said that the competition held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, stays special to her as it is the same country where her life trajectory changed with the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal back in 2021. After three World Championship medals, including a gold in 2023, an Asian Games silver at Hangzhou and a silver at the Commonwealth Games this year in Glasgow, she is now finally the Asian Games champion. 

'The Asian Games were very special for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire tournament. Moreover, since it was happening in Japan, that was a big deal for me because my life completely changed there-my Tokyo Olympics success came from there,' she said. 

Lovlina said that her preparation was aligned with her goal to bring the gold and spoke about her match against Kazakhstan's world champion boxer Natalya Bogdanova, which she won 3-2 by a close margin, saying that during her bout, she applied the preparation she had put in, did not keep high expectations and enjoyed a fight. Securing a win there gave her a confidence booster ahead of the final, where she beat China's Bao Ziyi by 5-0 on a dominant note. 

'When I went this time, my mindset was that I had to convert my silver from the last Asian Games into gold. My preparation was aligned with that goal. The opponents were very tough. The semifinal match was against Kazakhstan's fighter, who was already a World Champion. It was a tough match with a 3-2 decision. I applied the exact preparation I had worked on, without keeping overly high expectations, living in the present, and enjoying my fight. It was hard, but a good result came out of it, and that gave me even more confidence for the final that I could perform well,' she said. 

Lovlina, who turned 29 on the day of her medal win, was all praise for the rising women's boxers, such as Preeti Pawar, the Commonwealth Games 2026 gold medalist and the CWG gold medalist, and Asian Games bronze medalist Priya Ghanghas. She noted that while some women boxers could not return home with a medal, their effort was commendable, and things will only get better in coming times for them, noting the dedication and focus of the young pugilists. 

'Our athletes are mentally very strong, extremely dedicated, and fully focused. The results we are seeing in Indian boxing are largely due to these athletes. Very young athletes are coming up-this time we had Preeti, Parveen Hooda made a great comeback (after her 2022 Asian Games medal was stripped away due to doping whereabouts failure), and she won gold this time around), Jaismine (Lamboria), Sakshi (Chaudhary). They all performed really well in their competitions. Even if someone did not win a medal, their effort was commendable, and they even defeated former World Champions. I believe in the coming times, things will get even better, and Indian boxing will grow further,' she said. 

Lovlina also said that she learns a lot from the energy and hard work put in by the youngsters. 

'For me, it is actually the opposite-I learn from the youngsters! Because the energy they have right now and the great form they are in is something I learn from. They work so hard. While I am continuing my journey, I feel there is a lot I need to learn from them. Of course, they respect me, consult me, and learn from me too, but I always try to learn from these youngsters as well,' she said. 

Shifting focus to nutrition, a key theme of the programme she attended, Lovlina spoke on the importance of nutrition as an athlete and how lack of awareness among the masses causes deficiencies and health issues. She also said that while running her academy, she tries to make the young boxers aware of the importance of protein and fibre and their overall diet plan. 

'I felt really good attending today's event because this is such an important topic for us and for everyone. Nutrition is so important in our daily, day-to-day life, but somewhere along the line, we don't pay enough attention to nutrition. There is a big lack of awareness, which leads to not having proper food, causing many deficiencies and health issues,' she said. 

'So I feel this program is giving a lot of focus to creating awareness, helping us understand the nutritional value needed for a healthy lifestyle. As an athlete, nutrition is extremely important to me-how to follow a diet and maintain a strict diet regimen.'

'I am also running my own academy, so it is very important for me to know what kind of diet to give those children. Coming from the background that I do, there isn't much knowledge about diet there, especially for kids from rural areas, nor do their parents know. Sometimes even survival is difficult because they don't get proper food to eat,' she said.

'So I always try to raise awareness among the athletes in my academy about their diet plan in a simple way-without overwhelming them with details like specific percentages, but by giving them a basic, simple approach to improving their diet. That is what I follow,' she signed off. (ANI)