World champion boxer Nikhat Zareen – Star of the BOI family

Vinod C Dixit

(dixitpatrakar@yahoo.in)

KUDOS to Nikhat Zareen for winning gold at the Women's World Boxing Championships. In a country where sports is often dominated by men, the Olympic star Zareen chose to challenge the ordinary and pave a path for Indian women in sports. She has become an icon for Indian youth and Olympic dreamers. Nikhat Zareen gave a dazzling performance to beat Thai Olympian Jutamas Jitpong 5-0 and become the fifth Indian woman to win a World title at the Women's World Championships.

The 25-year-old Zareen is a well-known face in the women's boxing fraternity. Earlier, she had won the junior youth world champion proving her mettle to compete against the best of the best in the world. Indian sport has seen a massive rise in the number of its female athletes shining on the world stage since the turn of the millennium. She is everything that an aspiring Indian woman athlete looks for in a role model.

Zareen has been on an incredible 12-year journey to the Gold Medal at the World Boxing Championship. She began boxing at the young age of 13 under the mentorship of Shamsamsuddin, who trains boxers on his own in the academy at Nizamabad (Telangana). At a young age, her mentor found the spark of brilliance in Zareen's eyes and decided to train her for the big stage. Her success becomes even more special as she has defied on her way to glory.

Zareen brought home the gold medal four years after Mary Kom had won the last title in 2018. On May 19, 2022, 25-year-old Nikhat Zareen etched her name in history to become only the fifth Indian boxer to win the gold medal in the Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

She was only the second Indian boxer to win a World Championships Gold Medal abroad (outside India) after M.C. Mary Kom, who did it four times out of her six Gold Medals.

But backed by her hard work and determination, she managed to fight all odds and script history by winning Gold at Istanbul. People used to say that boxing is for men and not for women and Zareen & Mary Kom have shown and proved themselves.

Telangana boxer and former world junior champion Nikhat Zareen is an officer in Bank of India the Most trust branded Banks in India. Bank of India is proud of Nikhat Zareen for creating history by winning Gold Medal in the final of the Strandja Boxing Tournament held in Bulgaria. She won her first National senior title when she bagged the gold medal during the 2015 Championships in Assam.

Nikhat Zareen says "I don't have too many major competition medals, except the Asian Championships bronze medal (2019). Whenever I am getting an opportunity, I want to give my hundred per cent. I want to win a medal in each and every competition." Zareen has proved that women in sport defy gender stereotypes and social norms, make inspiring role models, and show men and women as equals.