Lovlina Borgohain, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, has accused Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for mentally harassing her.

The 24-year-old ails from a family of sportspersons. Her elder twin sisters were national level kickboxing players. Lovlina, two-time World championships medal-winning boxer, also started with kickboxing at age 13  but then decided to make a shift to boxing. 

Also read: Who is Annu Rani, first woman Indian javelin thrower to qualify for World Athletics Championships?

There is an interesting story behind how Lovlina got interested in boxing. “One day her father brought some sweets which were wrapped by a newspaper page. She took the newspaper and started reading and she came to know about Muhammad Ali and she developed interest in boxing from there,” her mother Mamoni Borgohain said about Lovlina, reports India Today.

Also read: Cricket returns to Commonwealth Games: Cricketers recall experiences from 1998 edition

Born on Gandhi Jayanti in 1997, Lovina hails from the Golaghat district of Assam. To keep training was a struggle due to the family’s financial constraints.  When in Class 9, she was noticed and selected for training at the trials held by the Sports Authority of India at her high school Barpathar Girls High School. Her biggest break came when she was selected to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games welterweight boxing category.

She is the first woman from Assam to qualify for the Olympics and the second boxer from the state to represent the country after Shiva Thapa. She secured a berth for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 with a bronze medal finish in the 2020 Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic qualifiers.

She won a gold medal at the first India Open International Boxing Tournament held in New Delhi and a silver medal at the second such tournament held in Guwahati. Most recently, she won a bronze medal at the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships held in Ulan-Ude, Russia. In 2020, she became the sixth person from Assam to receive the Arjuna Award.

Also Read: Commonwealth Games 2022: 5 Indian athletes to look out for

Lovlina’s run up to the Olympics participation was not very smooth. Her training was hampered, first when her mother had to undergo a kidney transplant and then by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 5 feet 8 inches pugilist had to take a break to care for her mother and then again when the Olympics boxing camp was hit by COVID. Though no boxer was affected, a few officials had tested positive for the virus.