Tokyo Olympics 2020: Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain through to 69kg quarter-finals with win over Nadine Apetz

Tokyo: Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) advanced to the quarter-finals in her debut Olympic appearance, defeating German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely-fought last-16 stage bout 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 quarter-final stage. The 23-year-old showed great poise in a tense contest to triumph by the thinnest of margins. She claimed all 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. The youngster from Assam was the aggressor in the opening round before she changed her strategy to play the waiting game. The strategy worked out just fine despite the German’s well-placed jabs often troubling the Indian. 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 semi-finals of the European Qualification Tournament last year.