Lovlina Borgohain wins women's 75kg gold at Asian Games on her 29th birthday
Lovlina Borgohain defeated China's Ziyi Bao by a 5-0 unanimous decision to win the women's 75kg gold at the 20th Asian Games in Nishio, Aichi, Japan on October 2, 2026, her 29th birthday.
An Olympic bronze medallist, Lovlina upgraded the silver she earned at the previous Asian Games to gold and ended India's 12-year wait for a women's boxing title at the continental event. She became only the second Indian woman after MC Mary Kom to win Asian Games boxing gold; Mary Kom had taken 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 added.
Lovlina used a clear height advantage throughout the bout as 20-year-old Bao, a southpaw, repeatedly tried to close the distance and deny space, often resorting to clinches. Departing from her usual approach, Lovlina began aggressively and landed early punches while Bao responded with counters.
The opening round saw Lovlina finish strongly, landing clean, heavy punches to take the stanza 3-2 on the judges' cards. In the second round Bao pressed hard to cut the distance, but Lovlina found her range late and landed a series of clean blows to leave the round 4-1 on the cards.
Bao continued to throw punches in abundance in the final round but struggled to land cleanly; Lovlina stayed compact in defence, picked moments to counter and, having established a lead, slowed the pace in the closing stages to keep Bao at a distance and see out the contest.
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) secured bronze medals, while Parveen Hooda (65kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) will fight for gold later in the day; at the previous edition Lovlina had lost to Li Qian in the final and settled for silver.
With Lovlina's gold, India have improved on the last Asian Games showing and sit on six assured boxing medals in Aichi-Nagoya; the country's best-ever performance at the Asian Games came at Guangzhou 2010 when the contingent won nine medals — two gold, three silver and four bronze — and the strong showing follows a record-breaking campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month.
