Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen has bagged her career’s biggest medal– a gold medal at the 12th edition of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships with a dominating 5-0 victory.
After having a fair share of roadblocks and setbacks in her young career, 25-year-old Nikhat thrashed Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas 5-0 in the flyweight category final on Thursday night in Turkey’s Antalya.
She became the only fifth Indian woman to bag a gold at the World Boxing Championships after record six-time champion MC Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006) and Lekha KC (2006).
The Telangana-born boxer also clinched India’s first gold medal since boxing great Mary Kom last won it in 2018.
This was Nikhat’s second appearance at a World Championship, but the first in her adopted flyweight category.
In February 2022, Nikhat beat the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Busenaz Cakiroglu, bagging the gold medal at the 73rd Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
