Commonwealth Games 2022: Can World Champion Nikhat Zareen make India proud?

World Champion Nikhat Zareen will be aiming for her maiden Commonwealth Games medal when she enters the ring at Birmingham 2022. Nikhat, who became India's 5th boxer-ever to win the World Championship, will compete in the 50-kg category at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

But Nikhat's transition to the senior level was not easy given her idol MC Mary Kom still was the preferred choice in the flyweight category in 2015. And her problem escalated after she dislocated her shoulder in 2017, keeping her out of the boxing ring for a year.

Also read; Commonwealth Games 2022: Wrestler Ravi Dahiya aims for his maiden CWG medal

Moreover, her return in 2019 was marred after the 26-year-old boxer created quite a stir for a fair Olympic trial. However, with years gone by and Mary Kom struggling with injuries, Nikhat recovered the lost ground and emulated her idol's feat on the World stage.

With one eye set on the Paris Olympics, the boxer from Telangana's Nizamabad moved to the 50-kg category from 52 kgs after the World Championship and seems unfazed by the huge expectation going into the Birmingham games

Ahead of CWG 2022, Zareen said, "I take the expectations in a positive way and it pushes me to work much harder than I did at the World Championships.”

The reigning world champion qualified for the Birmingham Games by notching up an easy 7-0 win in the final of the trials, conducted by the Boxing Federation of India.