India was assured of an Olympic medal on Friday after Lovlina Borgohain brushed aside Nien-Chin Chan of Chinese Tapei in the quarters of the women's welterweight (69kg) at Tokyo Games.
The Indian youngster, hailing from Assam, scripted history in her debut Olympics stint, winning the bout by 4-1 split decision.
Lovlina started the match strongly by securing the first round with a 3:2 split verdict. The 23-year-old clinched the second round as well by a 5-0 unanimous decision.
The third round also went in the Indian pugilist's favour as she claimed the country's first medal in boxing and second overall at the Tokyo showpiece. It is also India's third boxing medal in Olympic history.
Borgohain is only the third Indian boxer after Mary Kom and Vijender Singh to bag a boxing medal at the Olympics. She will now square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who defeated Ukrainian boxer, Anna Lysenko, in her quarterfinal bout.
Borgohain will now look to better her confirmed bronze medal. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur also congratulated her for booking a semi-final berth and assuring India of a second medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
"Lovlina has entered the Semi-Finals! Well done @LovlinaBorgohai, what an amazing news for India to wake up to today! We’ve been glued to the tv screen watching you in action!" he wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, Borgohain had booked a place in the quarters by defeating German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely fought round-of-16 bout.
Borgohain was the first from her nine-member contingent to reach the quarter-final stage. The two-time World and Asian championships bronze-medallist had recorded a 3-2 win over Apetz who is 12 years senior to her.
