The Borgohain family has had little time to rest since their daughter earned an Olympic medal in Tokyo. Phone calls, and visitors occupy most of their time and space after Lovlina Borgohain bagged the Bronze?in women¡¯s welterweight boxing at the Tokyo Olympics on August 4.
But they aren¡¯t complaining at all.
¡°Our daughter has made the country proud. We are very happy,¡± says an elated Tiken Borgohain, Lovlina¡¯s father, who himself prefers to give her boxing matches a miss.?
"It makes him skittish and anxious," Borgohain admits.?
¡°Lovlina¡¯s mother and I never watch her live games. It makes us extremely nervous. We watch those matches later after the results are declared,¡± he says.
Meanwhile, the villagers are ecstatic. They danced on the streets and the sound of drumbeats and firecrackers reverberated in the village.
Born in the autumn of 1997, Lovlina went to a school in Baro Mukhia village in Upper Assam¡¯s Golaghat district, her native place. During her high school years in another school, she started practicing Muay Thai, sometimes referred to as "Thai boxing", a martial art and combat sport. Standing tall at an impressive 5¡¯8¡±, Lovlina has had an advantage over other players. Her physical training teachers encouraged her to actively engage and participate in sports.?
¡°The Sports Authority of India (SAI) was quick to spot and pick her for boxing at Barpathar Girls High School. She was noticed and selected by renowned Coach Padum Chandra Bodo at the SAI STC Guwahati from 2012 to learn the basics of boxing and to achieve excellence in boxing.
Lovlina¡¯s earliest and biggest boxing break came when she was selected to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games welterweight boxing category.?
She had earlier participated in the India Open ¨C an international boxing championship held in February 2018 ¨C where she won a gold medal in the welterweight category.
She had also won the bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Championship in Vietnam in November 2017, and the bronze medal at the President's Cup held in Astana in June 2017.
She later won a silver medal at the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia in June 2018 and a bronze medal at the 13th International Silesian Championship in Poland in September 2018.
She defeated Morocco's Bel Ahbib Oumayma 5-0 in her last 16-clash in the 69-kg category at Women's World Boxing Championships.
She defeated the German boxer Nadine Apetz in the primary rounds at Tokyo Olympics and on 30 July 2021, she defeated Taiwan's Chen Nien-chin and secured her medal.
In the semifinals she lost to the world number 1 Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey and took home the bronze medal.
In August 2020, Lovlina was bestowed the Arjuna Award, India's highest sporting award.
Behind Lovlina¡¯s brilliant performance over the years, is decades of family struggle.
Tiken Borgohain credits Lovlina¡¯s achievements to her mother, Mamoni Borgohain.?"It¡¯s only because of her mother that Lovlina has achieved brilliance. If she hadn¡¯t been so supportive, my daughters would have never been able to accomplish success," he says.
Narrating his early work struggles, Borgohain says his family went through an acute financial crisis.
¡°During the early 2000s, I worked at a small tea estate a little far from the village, and never had much time to be around the family. I used to earn a meagre monthly sum of Rs 2,500. We had to run a family of five on this salary. I could visit my family only once a week, and sometimes it was only once a month. My wife, and our three daughters spent most of the time alone, and that prompted us to teach them self-defence.?
"A concerned Mamoni would say that we do not have three sons, but three daughters and we must teach them self-defence. That¡¯s when we decided to get them trained in Muay Thai," says Borgohain, adding that he has only provided financial support to the family in his capacity, but the woman behind their achievements is Mamoni, who, apart from boosting their morale, would also take loans from the local cooperative to support their three daughters¡¯ dreams.
When asked how the family plans to celebrate Lovlina¡¯s feat, Borgohain has a simple answer.
¡°What will we do to celebrate? The whole country is celebrating. We¡¯ll cook whatever she wants, and have a simple meal at home.¡±?