Lovlina Borgohain outwitted in QF; India's boxing campaign ends in Olympics
Paris, Aug 4: India's boxing campaign at the ongoing Olympics came to a medal-less end after Tokyo edition bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) bowed out following a hard-fought quarterfinal loss to China's Li Qian in the women's competition here on Sunday.
Borgohain, the reigning world champion in the category, went down 1-4 to the Tokyo Games silver-winning 34-year-old in a messy contest during which both the boxers were repeatedly cautioned for clinching and holding.
The 26-year-old's loss ended India's boxing campaign in the Olympics after Nishant Dev was ousted from the men's 71kg quarterfinals on Saturday night, also a close contest.
A six-strong boxing contingent, comprising four women and two men, was representing the country in the Games. Out of these, four had crashed out in the preliminary stage itself.
It was a pacey start to the proceedings as Borgohain and Qian quickly got into a tangle.
However, none of the boxers seemed willing to launch the first attack.
The holding and clinching started pretty early in the bout and the referee had to repeatedly step in to separate the two old foes.
Qian seemed determined while Borgohain came across the more animated of the two early on.
The Chinese connected some clean combination punches and a left hook towards the end of the first round. She was particularly impressive before she took a 3-2 lead in the contest.
The second round didn't start any different but Qian was more purposeful in her approach. Her right straights were on target while Borgohain was cautioned twice for excessive holding.
It was once again 3-2 in favour of Qian but with a different set of judges scoring in her favour this time, she only had a slender one-point lead on one card, while the remaining four were tied.
The holding and clinching continued in the third round too and both the women seemed a bit drained.
However, Qian showed great presence of mind throughout to keep Borgohain at a distance. Borgohain was not up to it when it came to controlling the pace of the bout and repeatedly took hits on counter-attacks.
The Assamese had fought Qian in the Asian Games final last year and gone down 0-5. She later beat Qian in the semifinals of the world championship semifinal in 2023.
But more recently, she was bested by the veteran in a pre-Olympic tournament in Czechia in June.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
EC will leave no stone unturned to hold free, fair elections in West Bengal: CEC Kumar
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday asserted that the Election Commission will leave no stone unturned in holding free, fair and transparent polls in West Bengal where the first phase of voting is scheduled to be held on April 23.
Interacting with officials involved in poll management, the CEC said the elections will be fear-free, violence-free and intimidation-free.
Officials said the poll authority will ensure elections are also inducement-free and "booth jamming free".
No employee of the state government, local bodies or autonomous bodies will be allowed to influence the electoral process, they said.
The ruling TMC in the state has accused the EC of playing in the hands of the BJP, a charge vehemently rejected by the election watchdog.
The EC and the TMC have also been at loggerheads over the special intensive revision of voters' list with the party accusing the poll authority of deliberately disenfranchising voters to benefit the BJP. Both the EC and the BJP have rejected the charge while dubbing it as baseless.
The second phase of voting in West Bengal will be held on April 29 and votes will be counted on May 4.
