CWG 2022: Nikhat Zareen, Amit Panghal shed cloaks of the past

Both power into respective gold medal rounds with consummate easeBIRMINGHAM: Nikhat Zareen's demeanour bears quite the change after her world championships gold a few months back. Now as she enters the boxing hall, she literally bounces into the ring. The confidence is there for everyone to see. Once inside the ropes, there is conviction in whatever she does, whether dodging, weaving, landing jabs or crosses on her opponents, she appears in complete control of herself and the situation. It wouldn't be a misplaced thought if one considers her to be India's best boxer at present, men included. There has been a world of change to the Nikhat embroiled in a battle, within the ring and outside, with Mary Kom in the winter of 2019 and the one that enters the ring now.

So far, in every round, Nikhat has owned the ring at these Games. Saturday's 48kg women's light flyweight semifinal result against England's Savanna Alfia Stubley seemed to be a foregone conclusion, the interesting part was how dominating Nikhat could be. The Indian was at her attacking best throughout, across the three rounds, and the verdict was a unanimous 5-0 by the five judges. She will now face Northern Ireland's Carly McNaul, a 2018 Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, in the final. "She (McNaul) is one of the boxers I had prepared for before coming to Birmingham. She will prove to be a good challenge," Nikhat said afterwards. Amit makes final"In Tokyo, the looming threat of Covid was quite disturbing." Amit Panghal finally laid bare the demons that shackled him at the Olympics a year ago. "Mentally, I am in a happy space here," said the boxer on Saturday. It showed. After winning a closely-fought semifinal against fellow Tokyo Olympian, Patrick Chinyemba