Nikhat Zareen is only the fifth Indian woman boxer to win a world championships gold medal.
Nikhat Zareen on the podium with her world champions gold medal. Image: BFI
Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen on Thursday became only the fifth woman boxer from the country to become a world champion as she clinched the gold in the flyweight (52kg) division.
Zareen defeated Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas 5-0 in the final of the Women’s World Championship in Istanbul. The Indian boxer won by unanimous verdict with judges scoring the bout 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in her favour.
One of her first reactions after the stupendous win was: “Am I trending on Twitter?”
“It was always my dream to be a trend on Twitter and to achieve something for my country at the world level is the biggest motivation,” she said in her press conference.
Zareen, who fights in the same category as the legendary Mary Kom, was also in the news in 2019 and became a trending topic on Twitter back then after she asked former sports minister Kiren Rijiju for a trial match against six-time world champion Mary for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She eventually lost the but 1-9 and faced a lot of criticism from all the corners. However, she is now back trending on Twitter, this time for her gold medal win.
Asked about what was going through her mind after the gold medal win, Zareen said: “I was thinking about my parents. Whenever I called them after the bout, they would always be praying for me. I am very happy for them. My father is very supportive. This is all because of my family support. When I was going through tough times, my family supported me a lot. I felt like hugging my parents after the bout. So I became emotional.”
The boxer also announced that she will now be targeting a gold medal at the upcoming Olympics.
“My focus is firmly on the Paris Olympics. My goal is to win gold in the Olympics. Of course, I focus only on one tournament at a time. My focus was completely on this World Championships. Now, I will shift my focus to the Commonwealth Games,” she said.
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