Blame the tough draws or performance but the harsh reality is India’s boxers’ campaign at the ongoing Paris Olympics came to a disappointing end after Tokyo bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain went down fighting against her old nemesis Li Qian of China in the 75kg women’s quarterfinal bout on Sunday.

The eighth-seed Lovlina lost the bout by a 4:1 split decision to Li Qian, the reigning Asian Games champion. Lovlina would have assured a medal by winning this fight. In Olympic boxing, two bronze medals are awarded, one each to the losing semi-finalists.

In the quarterfinal, Li Qian started well with some strong punches but Lovlina, who took her time to get going, too returned some crucial jabs. As the bout progressed, the 26-year-old Indian boxer was pushed further on the backfoot by Li Qian, whose strong attack helped her land enough blows to edge out the reigning middleweight world champion.

In the opening round earlier this week, Lovlina had registered a convincing 5-0 victory against Sunniva Hofstad of Norway.

Lovlina had booked her Paris 2024 berth by reaching the women’s 75kg final at the Asian Games last year. Once again, it was Li Qian who defeated her in the final in Hangzhou.

Earlier, late on Saturday night, world Championship bronze medallist Nishant Dev also suffered a close 1:4 split decision defeat to second-seeded Mexican Marco Alvarez Verde in the men’s 71kg quarter-final, despite having a relatively favourable draw.

The decision of the judges left several Indian boxing greats disappointed. Former world champion Laishram Sarita Devi lashed out at the judges, terming it as an “unfair” decision.

“Nishant was much better than the Mexican in all three rounds. It boils my blood seeing unfair decisions in sports. It finishes your hard work for so many years in a few seconds,” Devi said in a social media post.

In what turned out to be an underwhelming campaign for Indian boxers, four of the six pugilists at the Paris Games even failed to reach the quarterfinals.

Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen made a Rd-16 exit after losing to reigning Asian Games gold medalist Wu Yu of China in the women’s 50kg. Both Zareen and Borgohain, India’s best medal prospects, faced tough draws. Zareen was unseeded, while Borgohain, the only seeded Indian, had switched her weight category from 69kg in Tokyo to 75kg for Paris.

Earlier on Tuesday, half of India’s boxing contingent were shown the door after losing their respective bouts. Jasmine Lamboria faced a first-round exit against Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines in the women’s 57kg Round of 32.

Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Amit Panghal, who secured a late qualification in the last qualifiers in Bangkok, faced a 1:4 split decision loss to the 2019 World Championships silver medallist Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia in the men’s 51kg Round of 16.

Asian Games bronze medallist Preeti Pawar lost to World Championship silver medallist Yeni Arias of Colombia in the women’s 54kg Round of 16.

India has previously secured three bronze medals in Olympic boxing: Vijender Singh in Beijing 2008, Mary Kom in London 2012, and Lovlina Borgohain in Tokyo 2020, and the tally will continue at least for the next four years, when the Summer Games will be held in Los Angeles.