Paris, July 27: Four Indian women boxers will be fighting for glory at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg) will be marking her Olympic debut in Paris. IANS bring you the profile of the four Indian women pugilists.
Lovlina Borgohain (75 Kg) Date of Birth: 02-10-1997 Place of Birth: Assam Style: Orthodox Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina has enjoyed success since her foray and her journey into the contact sport is an intriguing affair. Following the footsteps of her twin sisters Licha and Lima, the Assamese first took up kickboxing. It was only when she met her first coach Padum Boro, her life took a definite turn. Boro, who worked at Sports Authority of India’s Shillong and Dimapur centers, introduced her to boxing and since then there has been no looking back for Lovlina.
Having found her love in boxing, Lovlina was always on the lookout for an opportunity. And it came within a few months. SAI was holding the trials at Barpathar Girls High School, where she studied, and Lovlina showed her skills when she took part in the trials. That’s how Boro noticed her exceptional talent and started honing it from 2012. In 2019, she won another bronze medal in the World Championships in Russia and in 2020, became the first boxer from Assam to qualify for Tokyo Olympics and then became India’s only second woman boxer to win a medal at the Olympics after Mary Kom.
Achievements: 2024: Silver medal at Grand Prix 2023: Silver at Asian Games, Hangzhou, China 2023: Gold medal at World Championships, New Delhi, India 2022: Gold at 2022 Senior National Championships, Bhopal 2022: Gold at 2022 Asian Championships, Dubai 2021: Bronze at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Bronze at Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifier, Jordan 2019: Bronze at World Championships, Russia 2019: Gold at Umakhanov Memorial International Boxing Tournament, Russia 2019: Silver at India Open, Guwahati 2019: 70th Strandja Elite Women Boxing Championships, Sofia, Bulgaria: Bronze 2019: 3rd Women’s National Championship, Vijaynagar: Gold 2018: 20th AIBA Women’s World Championship, Delhi: Bronze 2018: Ulaanbaatar Cup, International Boxing Championship, Mongolia: Silver 2018: Indian Women’s Senior National Championships, Rohtak: Silver 2018: Indian Open Boxing Tournament, New Delhi: Gold 2017: President’s Cup tournament in Astana: Bronze 2017: Asian Boxing Championships, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Bronze 2015: Nations Women’s Youth Cup (Subotica, Serbia): Silver 2014: Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Memorial Tournament (Subotica, Serbia): Bronze 2014: Nations Women’s Youth Cup (Vrbas, Serbia): Bronze 2013: Nations Women’s Junior Cup (Zrenjanin, Serbia): Silver 2012: Indian Women’s Junior National Championships: Gold
Nikhat Zareen (50 kg) Date of Birth: 14-06-1996 Place of Birth: Nizamabad, Telangana Style: Orthodox Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen is amongst the current crop of boxers to have flourished at the international stage. With her slew of wins as a teenager and a promising career to look forward to, she was soon struck by a tragedy.
The 2011 world junior champion snapped her shoulder in 2017 during an Inter-University Championships bout, forcing her out of the ring for nearly a year. While the Nizamabad-based pugilist broke all barriers to become the first Muslim girl to take up boxing professionally and represent India, staying away from the ring for almost a year was the toughest phase of her life so far.
Nikhat participated in two international tournaments in 2024 winning the silver medal in 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament and a gold medal in the Elorda Cup 2024. With all international accolades already in her cabinet Nikhat will look to complete her Olympic dream in Paris.
Achievements: 2024: Gold medal at Elorda Cup 2024, Kazakhstan. 2024: Silver medal at 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament, Bulgaria 2023: Bronze medal at Asian Games, Hangzhou, China 2023: Gold medal at World Championships, New Delhi, India 2022: Gold medal at National Boxing Championship, Bhopal 2022: Gold medal at Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022: Gold medal at World Championships, Istanbul 2022: Gold medal at Strandja Boxing Tournament, Bulgaria 2021: Gold medal at National Boxing Championships, Hisar 2021: Bronze medal at Istanbul Bosphorus tournament in Turkey 2019: Bronze medal at India Open, Guwahati 2019: Silver medal at Thailand Open 2019: Asian Boxing Championships, Bangkok: Bronze 2019: 70th Strandja Boxing Tournament, Sofia, Bulgaria: Gold 2018: 56th Belgrade Winner International Championship; Serbia: 2018: Women Senior Nationals; Rohtak; Haryana: Bronze 2015: Gold at Senior National Championship, Guwahati 2011: Junior and Youth World Championship, Turkey: Gold
Preeti (54kg) Date of Birth: 23-10-2003 Place of Birth: Bhiwani, Haryana Stance: Southpaw Preeti started boxing at the tender age of just 14. With no interest in boxing, Preeti was introduced to the sport by her uncle Vinod who was himself a national-level medallist boxer.
Vinod convinced Preeti’s father who works as an ASI officer in Haryana Police to let her try hands in boxing and started coaching her. Preeti got full support from her family in pursuing a career in boxing and she didn’t let down their belief.
Preeti quickly climbed the ladder, playing her first major tournament at the Open State tournament in Panipat and clinching a gold medal at the youth nationals. Preeti continued her phenomenal form winning the silver and gold medal at the Khelo India Games 2020 (Guwahati) and 2021 (Panchkula) respectively.
Preeti won her first major international medal when she clinched the bronze medal at the Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China. With the medal, she also won the women’s 54kg Olympic quota for India. Achievements: 2024: Gold at ASBC Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing Championships 2023: Bronze medal at Asian Games 2023: Women’s World Championships – Participated 2022: Bronze medal at the Asian Championships, Jordan 2021: Gold at Khelo India Youth Games, Panchkula 2021: Youth Asian Championships, Silver 2020: Silver at Khelo India Youth Games, Guwahati
Jaismine (57kg) Date of Birth: 30-08-2001 Place of birth: Bhiwani, Haryana Style: Southpaw The young pugilist, who dreams to win gold in the Olympics, is single-mindedly focused on achieving her dreams. She has grown up watching two of her uncles winning international tournaments and that inspired her to explore the world of Boxing. Belonging from a humble family where her father works as a home guard and mother, a housewife, Jaismine had a fair share of struggle during the initial days of training.
However, she is grateful to her uncles as they are her support system and trained her while she juggled between studies and training. She sheds her blood and sweat while being under rigorous training at her uncle’s training academy as her aim is to win the international championships. With the support of her uncle, who is also her coach, Jasmine was able to win several national and international tournaments and won gold at Youth Eskar All Female Box Cup 2019 at Dublin, Ireland and 3rd Youth Women’s National Boxing Championship 2019 at Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. She made her senior debut at the 2021 Boxam International tournament where she impressed everyone and won a silver medal. And in the same year at the Asian Championships, she claimed a bronze medal.
Achievements: Asian Games 2022- Quarter-finals Women’s World Championships 2023 – Participated Bronze at 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2021 Asian Boxing Championships- bronze medal Boxam International Boxing tournament Castellon Spain 1st to 7th March 2021 – Silver medal Youth Eskar All Female Box Cup 2019 at Dublin, Ireland (gold medal) ASBC Asian youth men’s and women’s boxing championship in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2019 (bronze medal)
IANS