India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—Carrying the legacy forward is not easy but India’s Nikhat Zareen proved it by not only overcoming societal pressures along with prejudice, but also fought in the shadow of a legend, Mary Kom, while recovering from a major shoulder injury to win her first World Championship medal, a gold in the 52 kg category in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday.
The legend in the making, won the gold medal at Women’s World Boxing Championships, defeating Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas in 52kg final. Nikhat thus becomes only the fifth Indian women’s boxer after Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC to win a gold at the World Championships. The 25-year-old Zareen is a former junior youth world champion. Against her Thai opponent in the final, she fought with brilliance and brought home the gold medal. The judges scored the bout 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in the Indian’s favour.
It was also India’s first gold medal since boxing great Mary Kom won it in 2018.
However, the energetic boxer took full advantage of her long reach and maintained her dominance against the Thai boxer, whom she had beaten in the 2019 Thailand Open semi-final—the only meeting between the two, enroute her silver medal finish. Though, Jutamas tried to fight back in the second round with a counter-attacking display but hardly managed to cause any trouble for the swift-moving Nikhat, who looked in complete control.
Hitting straight with clear punches, strength proved to be a key factor for Nikhat as she played cautiously and kept attacking relentlessly before securing the gold quite comfortably. Earlier, she had spoken about moving on from the lost trials against her idol Mary Kom, and kickstarting her journey in 51 kg internationally.
A Salman fan since her teens, she outdid Bhai’s swag at Turkey with her gold medal. Having earned her place as a contender now with Mary stepping aside, and crucially Nikhat getting the wins under her belt, there was now the start of the actual battle — on the international level, beginning with this May World Championships.
Meanwhile, Nikhat’s father Mohammad Jameel Ahmed, a true-blue Hyderabadi has played cricket, and other sports, has supported the 25-year-old Zareen since her childhood. He said that he was into athletics, and used to run 100/200m. The turning point came when she asked someone why there were no female boxers and was retorted with a reply ‘ladkiyon mein dum nahin hota’. Henceforth, Zareen took that statement as a challenge and tried to change people’s perspective that women can do anything. Interestingly, her cousin brothers Ehteshamuddin and Itishamuddin are boxers too, and a young Nikhat didn’t have to look for inspiration outside her family circle. Her father didn’t discourage his daughter from entering a sport which did not see many female boxers competing in Nizamabad or even Hyderabad in the late 2000’s.
Meanwhile, after her winning streak at Turkey, BFI President Ajay Singh said that winning a medal at the international level is always a dream and Nikhat could achieve it so early is extremely commendable. “We, at BFI, are proud that our boxers have not only made all of us proud but each of their boxing journeys is inspiring for the upcoming generations,” said Singh. He also extended his congratulations to bronze medal winners Parveen and Manisha as well as the coaches and support staff for this achievement. Our eight boxers qualified for the quarter-finals which was joint most and shows the strength of Indian boxing, he added.
Nikhat Zareen has an open, expansive, and unfeigned personality outside the boxing ring. Not quite the bravado of the open guard inside of the ring that will invite a crushing flurry. But there were elements of exuberance from outside of the square, that needed reining in and some tightening, if she has to step out of MC Mary Kom’s shadow in the women’s flyweight division, and make a mark internationally. The gold at Strandja, beating the Olympic silver medallist in March was a start. The World Championship title at Turkey, was announcing her proper arrival.
With the addition of three medals in Istanbul, India’s overall medal tally has gone up to 39, including 10 gold, eight silver and 21 bronze, in the 12 editions of the prestigious event—third highest after Russia (60) and China (50).
