Asian Games 2026: Lovlina Borgohain ends India's 12-year wait for a women's boxing gold

One of the country's most decorated boxers, Lovlina Borgohain ended India's 12-year wait for an 2026 Asian Games women's boxing gold, defeating China's Ziyi Bao in the 75kg final to give herself a perfect birthday gift on Friday.

Olympic bronze-medallist Lovlina, who turned 29 on the day, defeated Bao by a 5-0 unanimous decision to upgrade the silver she had won at the last edition.

With this win, Lovlina became only the second Indian woman after the legendary MC Mary Kom to claim an Asian Games boxing gold. The Manipuri had won the flyweight (51kg) title at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

"Today is my birthday. It's a very special birthday, I'm feeling really good. I thought I'd have to gift a gold medal on my birthday. It's the first time that I got a present for myself. I gave it my all. I didn't think for a second that I would lose," Lovlina said after the win.

"It was a very tough fight. But I was always thinking that I just have to win. The last round was very tough. I was winning by 2-1 in the first and second round. So I thought I have to just win the third round.

"The opponent was very strong. I was playing with her for the first time. So I had no idea how she was going to play. I was motivating myself that I have to win. I don't want to lose."

Lovlina made the most of her considerable height advantage, while 20-year-old Bao constantly tried to close the distance and deny the Indian space to work.

The approach made for a messy contest, with Bao resorting to repeated clinches.

In a departure from her usual approach, Lovlina started aggressively, landing a few punches right away, but Bao was equally fierce with her counters.

The Chinese southpaw connected a couple of combinations, before Lovlina finished the round strongly with some clean, heavy punches to edge it 3-2.

Trailing, Bao came out aggressively in the second round, looking to close the distance, while Lovlina tried to keep her at bay and create room for her punches.

The Indian managed to find her range towards the end of the round, landing a series of clean blows to take it 4-1 on the judges' cards.

The same pattern continued in the final round, with Bao throwing punches in abundance but struggling to land cleanly. Lovlina remained compact in defence and picked her moments to counter.

Having done enough to establish her lead, Lovlina slowed the pace in the closing stages and chose not to engage unnecessarily, keeping Bao at a distance and seeing out the contest.

At the last edition, Lovlina had lost to another Chinese boxer, Li Qian, in the final, settling for silver. This time, she made sure there was no repeat of that result.

Indian boxers have already bettered their performance from the last edition by assuring six medals in Aichi-Nagoya.

Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg) won bronze medals, while Parveen Hooda (65kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) will fight for gold later in the day.

India's best-ever boxing performance at the Asian Games came at the Guangzhou 2010 edition, when the contingent won nine medals -- two gold, three silver and four bronze.

The strong showing in the continental event comes on the back of Indian boxers' record-breaking campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed.)