In a milestone moment, Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen won the gold medal in 52 kg category at the Women's World Boxing Championship in the fly-weight final in Istanbul, Turkey.
With this win, she became the fifth Indian female boxer to win a gold at the World Championships. Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC are women boxers who have won a gold before her.
Zareen’s acumen in the game is being widely appreciated, as she covered to court brilliantly to get the gold. All the judges were immensely pleased with her boxing skills and good judgement. Mary Kom has won a gold medal at the World Boxing Championships six times, while Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC have won it once each. This is also the first time after 2018 (Mary Kom won it), that an Indian woman boxer has won a gold at the championship.
Zareen’s opponent was Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas, who also did well and lost by a very small margin at 3-2 in the second round. In the final round though, all the five judges were in favour of Nikhat with a record 5-0 unanimous decision.
“Winning a medal at the world's is always a dream and Nikhat could achieve it so early is extremely commendable. We, at BFI, are proud that our boxers have not only made all of us proud but each of their boxing journeys is inspiring for the upcoming generations,” BFI President Ajay Singh was quoted by NDTV.
Indian boxers Manisha (57kg) and Parveen (63kg) also won bronze medals after their semi-finals finish. This is a proud moment for India as our women boxers have demonstrated brilliant technical acumen and skill at the championship, with 310 boxers from 73 countries across the globe.