CWG 2022: In Nikhat Zareen's ring of fire, spirit soars while adversity melts

She told Nikhat to drop the idea of becoming a boxer. For Nikhat, there were more pressing matters at hand. How to seek revenge from that boy and pay him back with interest. So, a young and pugnacious Nikhat called him up to spar with her when she returned to the Nizamabad stadium complex post her recovery from injury and left him with a bloodier nose than hers, forcing the coaches to stop the session.

Nikhat has not looked back since despite numerous challenges. Be it indifference from the boxing federation (BFI) or injury. The Asian Championships bronze medallist had suffered a career-threatening dislocation of her right shoulder during the All-India Inter University meet in October 2017. It seemed like a knockout punch to her dreams of shining globally in women's flyweight boxing. She was told by her coaches and physiotherapists that it would take a surgery on her dominant hand for her to box again. In a moment, the world had turned upside down and it seemed her bright boxing career would end prematurely. But Nikhat likes challenges. She went under the knife in Mumbai, consulted psychologists to put those negative thoughts behind her and rehabilitated for a year under American boxing coach Ronald Simms and emerged a stronger and much fitter boxer. She announced her second comeback by winning at the Strandja Memorial meet in Bulgaria in February 2019 and, since then, the Youth Worlds silver winner hasn't taken her foot off the gas, punching her way through and winning medals along the way too.

Her biggest achievement came on May 19, when she defeated Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas 5-0 in the final (52kg) to become the women's World boxing champion in the flyweight category and only the fifth Indian woman boxer-ever to