The past few weeks have been like a dream for Tiken and Mamoni Borgohain. First, they were blessed with a grandson when Lima one of their twin daughters gave birth in the past month. And then their youngest daughter, Lovlina, qualified for her maiden Olympics.

Lovlina is among the nine Indian boxers to have booked berths for the quadrennial event after winning her quarterfinal bout last Sunday against Uzbekistans Maftunakhon Melieva in the 69kg category in the Olympic qualifiers held in Amman, Jordan.

She made a video call at around 10:30 pm after her bout and our entire household broke into celebration. Her mother is so happy that she is at a loss of words. People have been pouring in to give their wishes, said Tiken, who is all set for a homecoming party.

But it wont be a big one because for Lovlina just qualifying for the Olympics isnt enough, she wants more.

My father always wanted me to go to the Olympics, so its a dream come true for him. When I called them, they all started crying, said Lovlina from Amman, her voice cracking. I, however, am not contended with only an Olympic berth. I want to win the gold.

It wont be an easy task though.

To become a champion, Lovlina, ranked third in the world, will have to get past the likes of world No. 2 Chen Nien-Chin of Chinese Taipei. Lovlina and Chen have faced each other four times so far and on all occasions Lovlina has ended up on the losing side.

Asked why it has been so difficult to beat Chen, Lovlina said: We both have the same technique. Both of us wait for the other to begin the attack and since I have been more of a defensive player, I failed to get the better of her.

She further said: Unlike Asian boxers who are more technical, European boxers play with strength and bombard their opponents with body punches. As a result, they come close more often and this gives me the opportunity to land more punches on them.

Womens high-performance director Rafaelle Bergamasco, however, thinks Chen is more of a mental block for Lovlina. She lost to her once and after that she lost to her again after an improved performance. Maybe she lacks confidence against her a little, said Bergamasco.

Lovlina is also aware of her weakness and believes it was one of the reasons why she failed to perform at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. I wasnt psychologically strong during the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. Also, some of the decisions went against me, Lovlina added.

However, with time she has become mentally stronger, all thanks to meditation.

You always need to work hard but staying strong psychologically is very important. For that, I started meditating. I went for a meditation session in Gurgaon last year and since then I have been doing it on my own regularly. I use meditation apps and also YouTube videos to practice, said the boxer.

Not to overburden herself, she also tries to keep her mind out of the game when she is not training or working out.

Earlier, I always used to think about boxing. But these days I try not to do that. Doing that only increases the pressure. So, whenever I am not training or working out, I try to speak with my family members as much as possible. Also, I love watching South Indian action movies, she added.

Doing that has helped the girl from Assam and India coach Sandhya Gurung, too, believes she has improved. Earlier when she used to enter the ring, she used to have doubt in her mind but now she is fearless inside the ring, said Gurung.

Not only has she improved psychologically, her boxing has also become better. Lovlina has changed her way of boxing. At the beginning, she depended only on force and used to push too many shots. It was only later that she realized that she has very strong legs and an excellent physique for the 69kg category, said Bergamasco.

Since then she started working on the speed of her arms as well as on the response of counter attacks, both of which are the fundamental weapons of modern boxing.

While theres still a lot of scope for improvement, Bergamasco has been highly satisfied with Lovlinas overall show over the past two years. I am not saying it but the last two years data says it. She has won bronze twice in the World Championships. She also won bronze in the qualifying tournament for Tokyo and is world No. 3 in 69kg category. We can and must improve, but I think Im satisfied.

If Bergamascos words are to be believed, we can expect great things indeed from Lovlina but the journey so far has been exhilarating to say the least. The past two years have been really challenging and she has punched her way through it into the Olympics.

I wasnt too consistent in 2018 and 2019. I won bronze in the World Championships in 2018 but failed to win any medal in the Asian Championships the next year. But we had a lot of tournaments in 2019 and I was able to work on my techniques and finally won another bronze at the Worlds, said Lovlina.

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How meditation, movies helped Lovlina Borgohain get better inside the ring - Times of India