Boxing World Champion Nikhat Zareen To Prepare For 50kg Category In Commonwealth Games

Hardened by the difficult circumstances in her career, newly-crowned World Champion boxer Nikhat Zareen said she has adopted a combative approach where "whatever happens I have to fight and give my best." Continuing her stellar run, Zareen out-punched Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas by unanimous 5-0 verdict to clinch the flyweight (52kg) gold in Istanbul on Thursday.

"These two years, I focused on my game only and whatever the weaknesses were there in my game, I tried to improve," Zareen told reporters after her bout.

"I worked on my strong points and on where I lacked in my game. I worked on the aspects where I needed to work and made myself strong.

"All those hurdles which I have faced in my career have made me strong. I have become mentally strong after all these and my thought process is that whatever happens, I have to fight and give my best," she added.

Zareen's golden feat comes two-years after she had written to then sports minister Kiren Rijiju asking for a "fair trial" for the Olympic Qualifiers.

Zareen was trolled on social media mercilessly for this while the legendary Mary Kom had caustically asked "Who Nikhat Zareen?" Zareen eventually lost the bout to Mary Kom in the trials, missing out on a chance to qualify for the Tokyo Games.

The 2011 junior world champion also had to overcome a career-threatening shoulder injury, which kept her out of the ring for a year and saw her miss all the big-ticket events like the Commonwealth Games, Asiad and World Championships in 2018.

"In 2017, I dislocated my shoulder, I had to go under surgery and then I didn't take part in any competition for a year. I came back in 2018 but I wasn't at my peak so I missed the big tournaments CWG, Asiad and World Championships.

"But I didn't