Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) assured India of their first boxing medal at the ongoing Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals here on Friday.
The 23-year-old Assam boxer prevailed 4-1 to make the last-four where she will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Ukraine's Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.
Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past.
She was aggressive to start with, followed it up with a tremendous counter-attacking game and kept her defence tight in the final three minutes to emerge triumphant.
The news of Borgohain's win has spread a cheer across the country. In Assam, villagers and neighbours of the boxer were seen celebrating out on the streets.
While most Indians cannot go out on the streets on celebrate owing to the pandemic, they virtually sent their greetings to Borgohain. As soon as the news of her win came out, social media was flooded with love and support for her.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
With inputs from PTI.
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