Tokyo: Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) advanced to the quarterfinals in her debut Olympic appearance, defeating German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely-fought last-16 stage bout here on Tuesday.

Borgohain, the lone Indian boxer in action on the day, prevailed 3-2 over her rival who is 12 years her senior. Both the boxers were making their Games debut and the Indian became the first from her nine-strong team to make the quarterfinal stage.

The 23-year-old showed great poise in a tense contest to triumph by the thinnest of margins. She claimed all the three rounds on split points.

The 35-year-old Apetz was the first German woman to qualify for a boxing event at the Olympics and also a two-time world championship bronze-medallist and a former European champion.

Borgohain is a two-time World and Asian championships bronze-medallist. She will next face Chinese Taipei's Nien-Chin Chen, who is seeded fourth and a former world champion, on July 30. A win in that bout would assure Borgohain of at least a bronze medal at the mega-event.

Chen was also a silver-medallist at the 2019 Asian Championships and defeated Italy's Angela Carini 3-2 in her pre-quarterfinal bout.

The Indian youngster, hailing from Assam, was the aggressor in the opening round before she changed strategy to play the waiting game, drawing Apetz in to punish her on counter-attack.

The plan worked out just fine despite the German's well-placed jabs often troubling Borgohain

Borgohain relied mostly on her left hooks to keep the slender edge.

Apetz is a pioneering name in German boxing. She is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience, which she put on hold for a year to prepare for the Olympics.

Apetz made the Games cut after reaching the semifinals of the European Qualification Tournament last year.

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Bengaluru (PTI): NABARD on Thursday projected a priority sector credit potential of Rs 4.99 lakh crore for Karnataka for the financial year 2026-27, registering a 12 per cent increase over the projections made for the previous fiscal.

Releasing its "State Focus Paper for FY 2026-27" at the State Credit Seminar in Bengaluru, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development assessed the exploitable credit potential under priority sectors in the State at Rs 4,99,530.93 crore for the coming financial year.

The projections are aimed at guiding banks and financial institutions in formulating their Annual Credit Plans.

According to NABARD, agriculture and allied sectors account for 45 per cent of the total projected credit potential. Farm credit alone includes Rs 1,90,397.40 crore towards crop loans for agriculture and allied activities and Rs 47,166.71 crore towards term loans. Credit potential for ancillary activities has been estimated at Rs 28,876.81 crore.

The MSME sector has been assigned a credit potential of Rs 2,14,501 crore, constituting 42 per cent of the overall projection. Other priority sector segments include housing at Rs 28,119.01 crore, education at Rs 5,650.12 crore, export credit at Rs 5,983 crore, social infrastructure at Rs 1,936.91 crore and renewable energy at Rs 1,802.14 crore.

Agri infrastructure has been projected at Rs 81,485 crore.

NABARD stated that the enhanced projection reflects the growing credit absorption capacity across sectors and the need to strengthen rural infrastructure, agriculture resilience and enterprise development in the State.

The bank noted that the State Focus Paper is prepared through a consultative process involving banks, government departments and other stakeholders, and serves as a base document for district-level credit planning.

It added that the projections are aligned with sectoral priorities, infrastructure requirements and policy support needed to sustain inclusive and balanced growth across Karnataka.