New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI): Becoming solely the second Indian feminine to have two World Championships gold medals to her title, the nation’s illustrious pugilist Nikhat Zareen capped off an impressive marketing campaign on the Mahindra IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship with a shocking victory within the finals on the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex right here on Sunday.
Living as much as her title, the tenacious Nikhat (50kg) oozed class in her rampant show in opposition to the two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam and secured a thumping 5-0 win. The reigning World Champion asserted her dominance within the bout from the phrase go by touchdown correct punches and utilizing her fast toes to dodge the Vietnamese’s assaults.
The Indian’s breathtaking efficiency noticed her prevail within the first spherical with a 5-0 scoreline earlier than Nguyen bounced again within the second spherical with a 3-2 scoreline to arrange a grand slam end. In the ultimate spherical, Nikhat maintained her composure and proved why she’s top-of-the-line within the enterprise with a sensational attacking show that helped her seal the win by unanimous resolution.
With this victory, Nikhat turned solely the second Indian feminine pugilist to win two golds on the World Championships alongside the boxing legend Mary Kom who claimed a file six gold medals within the competitors.
“I am extremely delighted to become World Champion for the second time, especially in a different category. Today’s bout was my toughest in the entire tournament and since this was the last match of the tournament I wanted to utilize my energy completely and leave everything in the ring. It was a rollercoaster of a bout with both of us getting warnings as well as eight counts and it was very close. My strategy in the last round was to go all out and attack and I felt very happy when my hand was lifted as the winner. This medal is for India and for everyone who have supported us throughout the tournament,” stated Nikhat after her bout.
Despite shifting to mild flyweight from flyweight for this yr’s event, the 26-year-old pugilist from Telangana adjusted extraordinarily nicely to her new weight class and carried out on the highest of ranges all through the event. She notably toppled the highest seed and the reigning African champ Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria, two-time World Championships bronze medallist Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand and the Rio Olympics bronze medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia.
Commenting on Nikhat’s victory, Ajay Singh, President of the Boxing Federation of India stated, “Congratulations to Nikhat on becoming the World Champion for a second year in a row. I am sure that she will be a shining example for young girls all around the country to win gold medals for the country. She is going to be a champion for years to come and we will see an Olympics medal from here in 2024 for sure.”Following Nikhat’s triumph, India now have a complete of three golds of their kitty on the event after the 2022 Commonwealth Games medallist Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and three-time Asian medallist Saweety Boora (81kg) additionally received gold for the hosts on Saturday.
Later tonight, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain will look so as to add a fourth gold medal to India’s tally when she takes to the ring to face the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Caitlin Parker of Australia in her finals bout.
In the 54kg class, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei defeated Arias Castaneda Yeni Marcela of Colombia with a 5-0 scoreline and secured her second World Championships gold.
With a large prize pool of INR 20 crore, the distinguished occasion witnessed the participation of 324 boxers, together with a number of Olympic medallists, from 65 nations combating for titles within the 12 weight classes. (ANI)