Only children can touch Lovlina Borgohain’s Olympic bronze medal: She explains why

Guwahati: Olympic bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain has said that she will allow only children to touch her Olympic bronze medal. She will do that on her next visit to Assam. Lovlina Borgohain has a particular reason for taking such a decision. Sshe will meet children and allow them to touch her medal so that they are inspired to strive for it.

Lovlina was speaking at a felicitation programme here before leaving for Delhi. She said that she will return to Assam next week and ask children to take up sports and focus on winning medals for the nation.

“When I had set my eyes on the Olympics, I wanted to touch and feel the medal at least once. Now that I have brought a medal to Assam, I want as many children as possible to touch, feel and be inspired by it,” Lovlina said.

Lovlina clinched the welterweight (69 kg) bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. She said that she always wondered why so few medals are won by India. “I have now realised that it is due to the fact that sports are still not a part of our curriculum,” Lovlina pointed out.

“Sports should be made a compulsory subject in our education system. If this is done, sportspersons from India can win many more medals as they are capable of doing hard work,” the 23-year-old boxer added.

Lovlina was asked about her future plans. She said that in the next four years her aim is to win medals in the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and the Paris Olympics.

“I will have to start preparing right from the beginning, working on my weaknesses and strengthen myself further. This needs to be done, so that there will be no excuses for Paris,” she said.

Lovlina said that each and every bout at Tokyo was tough. However, the semifinal loss taught her many lessons, particularly the areas on which she needs to concentrate and improve upon.

“I had lost to my quarter-final opponent four times earlier. I was under a lot of stress but I did not lose my self-confidence. I went on to play with determination to win the match and the bronze medal for the country. My competition was with myself,” Lovlina said.