A.Srinivasan
We are proud to share that Nikhat Zareen, an officer in Bank of India, Regional Office, Hyderabad won the gold medal in the 52kg category at the Women’s World Championship defeating Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas in the fly-weight final in Istanbul, Turkey on 19 May 2022. Zareen became the fifth Indian woman boxer to win a gold medal at the World Championships, joining Mary Kom, Laishram Sarita Devi, Jenny R. L., and Lekha K. C. She is only the second Indian boxer to win a World Championships Gold Medal abroad (outside India) after M.C. Mary Kom.
Zareen born on 14th June 1996 in Nizamudeen, Telengana to Jameel Ahemed and Parveen Sulatana, did her schooling in Nizamudeen. Her father a foot baller wanted her daughter to excel in sports field. He coached her for a year and later inducted her in Sports Authority of India, Visakapattinam.
“My father made lot of sacrifices in his life for my sake. He moved out of Saudi Arabia quitting his job since boxing required me to wear shorts and shirts which was not allowed there” recalls Zareen in an interview. The young girl’s journey of fighting social norms and making a special place at international level is inspiring. She pays rich tribute to Baskar Bhat her boxing coach and other trainers.
Nikhat Zareen won championship in several tournaments before attaining this level. In 2011 she won Junior Youth World Boxing Championship. In 2014 she won Youth World Boxing Championship held in Bulgaria and in the same year she won the National Cup Championship held in Serbia. In 2015 she won the Senior Women National Boxing Championship. In 2019 Zareen won the silver medal at Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament. In the same year she won Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournmanet held in Sofia, Bulgaria. This year (2022) in the same tournament she defeated 3 times European Champion Tetiana Kob from Ukraine. Recently she won gold in World championship on 19th May 2022. We wish her many more success in the days to come.