Nikhat Zareen, Ace Indian boxer, bags second World Boxing Championship title
Nikhat Zareen, an ace Indian boxer, won her second World Championships title on March 27 when she defeated Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Tam in the 50kg summit fight here. Nikhat becomes only the second Indian, after the famous MC Mary Kom, to win the coveted championship twice.
Nikhat Zareen becomes only the second Indian, after the famous MC Mary Kom, to win the coveted championship twice. Zareen’s father introduced her to boxing, and she trained with him for a year. In 2009, she was accepted into the Sports Authority of India in Vishakhapatnam to train with Dronacharya awardee IV Rao.
She was labeled the “golden best boxer” after winning gold in the Tamil Nadu Erode Nationals the next year. Zareen earned a gold medal in 2014 in the third Nations Cup International Boxing Competition, which took place on January 12 in Novi Sad, Serbia. In the 51 kg weight class, Zareen beat Russian competitor Ekaterina Paltceva. At the 16th Senior Women National Boxing Championship in Assam in 2015, she took home a gold medal.
In 2019, she earned a gold medal at the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a silver medal at the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament held in Bangkok.
Nikhat has dropped from her favourite weight class of 52 kg to the Olympic level of light flyweight (50 kg) at the World Championships being held here. To win the gold, she had to endure six gruelling battles, including three consecutive ones.
At the World Boxing Championships, Indian ladies Mary Kom, Nikhata Zareen, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL, and Lekha KC all took home gold medals.
