India's Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain did her best against a stronger opponent, losing to China's Li Qian in the final of the women's 75 kg boxing event at the Asian Games on Wednesday.
Lovlina, who had stormed into the final by beating Thailand's M. Baison in the semifinal, found the going tough against the Chinese boxer, who was quicker on her feet and had a strong defence. Her opponent was the silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics and had bagged bronze in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.
The Indian tried her best but her opponent, egged on by a partisan crowd, did not allow Lovlina many chances and the Indian went down 0-5 to Li Qian, losing on points on the cards of the majority of five judges.
Playing from the red corner, Lovlina lost the first round 9-10 as per the first three judges while the 4th and 5th judges gave it 10-9 to the Indian.
However, in the second round, all five judges ruled in favour of the Chinese boxer. The trend continued in the third round too, the verdict finally going 5-0 in favour of the 33-year-old Li Qian.
"I tried my best, I gave my 100 percent but could not win the gold medal today. I am satisfied with my performance. I am happy to have won a silver medal in the Asian Games," said Lovlina after the final.
This is the first silver medal by an Indian woman boxer in the Asian Games. In 2014, MC Mary Kom had won a gold medal.
The 26-year-old boxer from Assam agreed that she made some mistakes but promised to analyse her bout and do better next time.
Lovlina said her main target in Hangzhou was to get a quota place for next year's Olympic Games in Paris. "My main aim here was to get the Olympic quota, which I managed. Now I will work hard on my game and do well in Paris," she said.
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