CHENNAI: Lovlina Borgohain became only the third boxer from the country to win an Olympic medal.
Immediately after her feat in Tokyo, Lovlina made her ambitions clear by stating that she'll continue to dig deep to ensure that she can change the colour of the medal (to gold) in Paris.
The Assam pugilist will indeed have to work mighty hard as she will have to shift from her preferred weight category (69kg) as it is no longer part of the Olympic programme.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), late on Friday, announced that the Olympic Qualification System has been approved by the IOC Executive Board and also revealed the weight categories that will be part of the quadrennial event.
Keeping gender equality in mind, the men's category has expectedly been reduced to seven categories while the women's category has been increased to six.
The Tokyo Games witnessed bouts in eight categories in the men's section while the women had featured in five. The closest categories to Lovlina's medal-winning category are 66kg and 75kg. Given her height, most of the coaches that this daily got in touch with felt Lovlina could possibly target the latter.
"IBA is very pleased with the results of our cooperation with the IOC in the development of this Olympic Qualification System, and for the IOC’s approval of the categories for the tournament. We are certain that all boxers aiming to reach Paris 2024 will benefit. The proposed Olympic Qualification System offers fairness, clarity and accessibility. They will have multiple opportunities to qualify," IBA president Umar Kremlev said in a release.
Lovlina is currently preparing for the upcoming World Championships with the rest of the national campers in New Delhi. She earned her berth for the marquee event, due to be held from May 6 to 21 in Istanbul (Turkey), by acing the domestic trials (69kg) in early March.
The men boxers will obviously have it tough with fewer categories, something that most in the sport were aware of. Every second weight category from the current 13 categories was removed for the Games. A total of 124 men boxers will be part of the mega event.
The Olympic qualification process is likely to begin in 2023. There will be a world boxing tour, which will go throughout the year. Boxers are likely to make qualifications on the basis of rankings. The World Championships and the continental will also offer ranking points.
For women boxers, the development means they'll have more opportunities. Given that there are more boxers in the lighter weight categories, the world body has focussed on the same. Lovlina's preferred weight category was not part of the Rio Olympics.
Shooting and Weightlifting
In shooting, trap mixed team shooting event has been replaced with skeet mixed team event. Weightlifting events have also been officially been trimmed down to 10 (5 men & women each).