Nikhat Zareen represents the continuing “women force” from A.P. in the world of sports. This 17-year-old boxer from Nizamabad has won a silver in her maiden appearance in the World Youth Boxing Championship held in Bulgaria on Saturday night.
Zareen’s splendid feat proved that sport is not only all about the likes of Sania, Saina, Sindhu, Humpy and Harika but also of lesser-known star performers from the State.
This boxer has served a reminder that her gold in the 2011 Turkey World Junior Boxing Championship (flyweight) was no fluke as she came up with another splendid show in the ring to return - a silver after she lost narrowly in the bantam weight category final in the Women's World Youth Boxing Meet in Bulgaria to Yunzi Yuan of China on Saturday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Intermediate student from New Kakatiya College at Nizamabad took to the sport first with the intent to demonstrate that even girls could excel when she first visited SAAP Academy, and she owes her success story to her first coach and uncle Shamsamuddin.
“Once I got the better of ex-junior world champion Viktoriya Virt of Ukraine, the confidence was up. The final was a close encounter and could have gone either way, but I am happy to have made it to the final in my maiden World Youth Meet,” she told Shamsamuddin after her bout over the phone.
“The huge inspiration is, without doubt, Mary Kom who won the world title five times. This performance will boost my morale to aim big,” says Zareen, the only Indian finalist in the championship.
ADVERTISEMENT
Interestingly, the Indian team’s chief coach is I. Venkateshwar Rao - under whom Zareen and other Indian women boxers have been training in Vizag for almost two years now at the SAI Centre.
“My goal is to qualify for the 2016 Olympics and win a medal for India. That is the biggest dream right now I am chasing,” signs off a confident Zareen.