Asian Games 2023: Nikhat Zareen expected to emulate World Championship run in Hangzhou

The 19th edition of the Asian Games is only days away and Telangana's powerhouse boxer Nikhat Zareen is one of the strongest medal contenders for India. Nikhat, who has been on a title-winning run in recent times, has brought ample amount of glory for the country and will be expecting to deliver more of the same when she travels to Hangzhou as well.

Recently, at the Women's World Boxing Championship held in Delhi earlier this year, India's star boxer Nikhat created history by winning gold in the 50 kg weight category by defeating Vietnamese boxer Nguyen Thi Tam 5-0.

Last year also, the 27-year-old won the gold medal at the World Championship. She is the second Indian after MC Mary Kom to win two consecutive gold medals at Worlds.

Nikhat also dominated her opponents when she took part in the Commonwealth Games held last year and won the gold medal by winning the match 5-0.

However, Nikhat's journey was not so easy. Actually, Nikhat's father Mohammad Jameel was a player himself and he wanted one of his four daughters to become a player. To fulfill her father's dream, Nikhat took up athletics and became a state champion at a young age. But fate had something else in store. On the advice of her uncle, Nikhat left athletics and joined boxing and became the World Youth Boxing Champion at the age of just 14.

She started her journey as a senior boxer after winning her first senior national title in 2016. But Nikhat's path was not easy. She had to face many challenges, she was in the same 52 kg weight category as the legendary Mary Kom. In addition, the injury she suffered in 2017 also kept her out of the sport for quite some time.

But, Nikhat did not give up and gave a befitting reply to the critics by winning bronze at the Asia Championship in 2019.

And now, having won back-to-back World Championships, the pugilist from Telangana will have to prove herself at the Asiad. The entire country will be hoping that once again the crown of victory is placed on Nikhat's head and the tricolor hoisted with pride in Hangzhou.