Nikhat Zareen has an open, expansive, unfeigned persona outdoors the boxing ring. Not fairly the bravado of the open guard inside the ring that may invite a crushing flurry. But there have been remnants of exuberance from outdoors of the sq., that wanted reining in and a few tightening, if she has to step out of MC Mary Kom’s shadow within the girls’s flyweight division, and make a mark internationally. The gold at Strandja, beating the Olympic silver medalist in March was a begin. The World Championship title at Turkey, was asserting her correct arrival.
The 25-year-old had audaciously gone warring to stake declare to even be the challenger previous to the final Olympics, asking Mary Kom to fetch up for a trial. Having earned her place as a contender now with Mary stepping apart, and crucially Nikhat getting the wins below her belt, there was now the beginning of the particular battle — on the worldwide degree, starting with this May World Championships. Someone’s stored her on the straight and slender of ‘Planet Athlete-hungry-for-success’ clearly, as a result of she holds herself again from a self-appraisal of 10/10 when quizzed about her footwork. “I wish to sound humble. So, chalo, theeke, 9/10 for footwork,” she chuckled in a mock-grudging tone.
Mary Kom danced when ducking and danced when dashing forth within the 51kg ring, by way of her twinkling footwork. Nikhat reckons she’s not lead-footed in any respect, removed from it. But given there’s miles to go earlier than Paris comes alongside, she retains assessments conservative with loads of scope for enchancment: “Speed 7/10. Power in the punches 8/10.”
The gold at Strandja, beating the Olympic silver medalist in March was a begin. The World Championship title at Turkey, was asserting her correct arrival. (BFI)
Cumulative coolness from being a die-hard Salman Khan fan? 20/10. “Very big fan. Fan kya, AC samjho. I believe he hasn’t married yet, because he’s waiting for me,” she says in mock-grandiose tone, a bonafide pugilist, whose pre-punch, pre-jab is the pure bluster, uttered for impact.
Though not fairly the Dabangg-fan right here. “I used to be a big fan of his in Hum Saath-Saath Hain. That innocence on his face. Salman of ’90s,” says the Bhai-buff, though for someone born only in 1997, the movie mania in Nizamabad must’ve started much later. “I’m waiting for his new Tiger movie,” she reminds.
But first got here boxing in serendipitous methods, to the woman who began out as a sprinter.
ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS ️
@nikhat_zareen continues her golden streak (from Nationals 2021) & turns into the one 5️⃣th lady boxer to win🥇medal at World Championships🔥
Well accomplished, world champion!🙇🏿️🥳@AjaySingh_SG#ibawwchs2022#IstanbulBoxing#PunchMeinHaiDum#boxing pic.twitter.com/wjs1mSKGVX
— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) May 19, 2022
EARLY DAYS
Nikhat’s father Mohd Jameel Ahmed is a true-blue Hyderabadi. That is, he is performed cricket elegantly, and prolonged his sports activities like to soccer and athletics, with no preconditions of magnificence in these. “He was into athletics, so I ran 100/200m. We had been watching Urban Games as soon as and I requested him why there have been no feminine boxers. He stated there are, however individuals assume ‘ladkiyon mein dum ni hota’ . I took that assertion as a problem. I wished to alter individuals’s mentality that girls can do something,” she says.
But girls within the 51kg division in India needed to do extra — vault over a really excessive gate, plus its halo. Take down the legend, MC Mary Kom, and for Nikhat, there wasn’t weight fluidity to manoeuvre across the rock in that class. Out of her depth once they met for the trials previous to Tokyo qualification meets, she can be packed off to bide her time, to up her sport after a little bit of a tactical licking.
Nikhat together with her father Md Jameel.
“I needed to go home after that. Eat my mom’s food. Play with my nephews, nieces,” she remembers, of toddlers aged 4, 2 and seven 1/2 years. “I of course felt bad because the Olympics wouldn’t come for another 4 years (3). But I always believed there’s more to come. And maybe Tokyo wasn’t my destiny. I didn’t look back and moved on,” she added.
Boxing has at all times been about “winning and learning” for Nikhat. In 2017, she tore her shoulder and forearm. “It was a bad case. I never imagined I could get such an injury. It hurt and took a year to heal. But I believe I got wiser and more mature after that injury. God wanted me to become mentally stronger,” she says.
BREAKING RECORDS JUST LIKE THAT!@nikhat_zareen turns into the 1️⃣st aside from Mary Kom to have received gold on the boxing world championships within the final 14 years
So happy with you champ!@AjaySingh_SG #ibawwchs2022#IstanbulBoxing#PunchMeinHaiDum#boxing pic.twitter.com/7b57lKkJHc
— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) May 19, 2022
Fleet-footed she is perhaps, however there was and stays a lot about ring-craft that Nikhat is conscious she’ll have to work on, to be spoken of in the identical breath as a number of World Champion, Mary Kom. “Experience was the big difference,” she avers when talking of the current semifinal towards Turkish Buse Naz akıroğlu, the silver medallist from Tokyo.
“It was candy revenge as a result of I’d misplaced to her final yr in semis. I’d labored on my errors and knew what was her energy, and had the technique to not let her play her sport,” she says.
At the Bosphorus Boxing Tournament in Istanbul final yr, Nikhat had overwhelmed two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan, a day after packing off 2019 world champion Paltceva Ekaterina of Russia in pre-quarters. With gold medalist Stoyka Krasteva, in her late 30s, unlikely to be at Paris, a brand new crop awaits, outlines of which can be seen at Worlds and Asiad.
The humbly assessed 9/10 footwork and agility apart, Nikhat feels assured about her left and proper hooks — one thing she maxes together with her 163 cm body. (BFI)
New chief girls’s coach Bhaskar Bhatt, was in Nikhat’s nook at Strandja. “I’d never worked with him at the elite level before. But he’s very hardworking and humble and gave me great support in that semifinal.” Nikhat had been very nervous, with recollections of final yr’s loss haunting her greater than the status of the Tokyo medallist. “I wasn’t positive how I’d truly combat as soon as contained in the ring as a result of I’d misplaced final yr on a unanimous determination. He simply shook me by the shoulder, regarded me within the eyes and informed me: ‘punch rukne nahi chahiye.’ He was so motivating, that I used to be pumped up.”
UPGRADES NEEDED
The humbly assessed 9/10 footwork and agility apart, Nikhat feels assured about her left and proper hooks — one thing she maxes together with her 163 cm body. Yet, tactically there’s a lot work to be accomplished. “Of course, you have to always change things. It can’t be the same, because people read you,” she says. One of Mary Kom’s enduring talents even when the velocity flagged however she clung onto the spot gamely, was her anticipation of the opponent’s vary and when to go all in and when to parry from a distance. It got here from years of expertise and a canny mind.
Nikhat, not as pickled within the trickery but, understands she wants sheer selection to trump the wiles. “I would like a sport that may confuse individuals the place they are saying, ‘iska samajh ni aata (it is robust to learn her). I ought to have the ability to alternate between very defensive and a change in model in a fraction of seconds,” she reckons.
Nikhat makes use of her sprinting previous largely to assist make weight now. She’s moved nicely previous the singular-tempo of blindly operating shortly on the monitor — freely and ferociously. She’s studying to maintain her playing cards near her within the ring now — the ebullience, at occasions an upbeat facade.
Nikhat Zareen has needed to wait out her flip within the 51kg with the legendary Mary Kom ensconced there until just lately. (BFI)
EDOT: Why 51 is ideal for Nikhat
Nikhat Zareen has needed to wait out her flip within the 51kg with the legendary Mary Kom ensconced there until just lately. Nikhat final went to a World Championship in bantamweight (54 kg) in 2016 and made quarters. But she’s woefully uncomfortable stepping up. “It’s not just the height and strength,” says the 163cm tall pugilist. “54kg class is also where many from 57kg lose weight, step down and fight.” So technically, a variety of fighters are encountered in that bridge class, and Nikhat has discovered itself overpowered and outwitted together with her beforehand restricted set. Mary too straddled her pure 48kg and the Olympics class 51kg, whereas others like Sarjubala Devi went professional, and Pinki Jhangra waited out. Nikhat although is a pure in 51kg.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
