One of the country’s most decorated boxers, Lovlina Borgohain ended India’s 12-year wait for an Asian Games women’s boxing gold, defeating China’s Ziyi Bao in the 75kg final to give herself a perfect birthday gift here on Friday.Olympic bronze-medallist Lovlina defeated 20-year-old Bao by a 5-0 unanimous decision to upgrade the silver she had won at the last edition.With this win, Lovlina became only the second Indian woman after the legendary MC Mary Kom to claim an Asian Games boxing gold. The Manipuri had won the flyweight (51kg) title at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.”Today is my birthday. It’s a very special birthday, I’m feeling really good. I thought I’d have to gift a gold medal on my birthday. It’s the first time that I got a present for myself. I gave it my all. I didn’t think for a second that I would lose,” Lovlina said after the win.”It was a very tough fight. But I was always thinking that I just have to win. The last round was very tough. I was winning by 2-1 in the first and second round. So I thought I have to just win the third round.”The opponent was very strong. I was playing with her for the first time. So I had no idea how she was going to play. I was motivating myself that I have to win. I don’t want to lose.”Lovlina made the most of her considerable height advantage, while Bao constantly tried to close the distance and deny the Indian space to work.The approach made for a messy contest, with Bao resorting to repeated clinches.In a departure from her usual approach, Lovlina started aggressively, landing a few punches right away, but Bao was equally fierce with her counters.The Chinese southpaw connected a couple of combinations, before Lovlina finished the round strongly with some clean, heavy punches to edge it 3-2.Trailing, Bao came out aggressively in the second round, looking to close the distance, while Lovlina tried to keep her at bay and create room for her punches.The Indian managed to find her range towards the end of the round, landing a series of clean blows to take it 4-1 on the judges’ cards.The same pattern continued in the final round, with Bao throwing punches in abundance but struggling to land cleanly. Lovlina remained compact in defence and picked her moments to counter.Having done enough to establish her lead, Lovlina slowed the pace in the closing stages and chose not to engage unnecessarily, keeping Bao at a distance and seeing out the contest.