Many Said It’s Impossible for a Muslim Girl to Make Name in Boxing: Nikhat Zareen

Nikhat Zareen has seen the highs of high and the lows of low in her albeit yet young career. The 25-year-old from Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), promised greatness aged 15 when she won World Youth Championship gold.

Then came 2019, when she found herself at the centre of an Olympics selection controversy with veteran Mary Kom. She eventually missed the flight to Tokyo, as the Indian boxing contingent returned disappointed despite harbouring tremendous hopes.

The pandemic may have slowed down the world, but not Nikhat. She started 2022 with a historic gold at the 73rd Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Hyderabad-based Zareen, who is a multiple-time national medallist, became the first Indian boxer to claim two gold medals at the tournament, having won a gold medal at the Strandja Memorial’s 2019 edition as well.

It was not easy, as Nikhat herself conceded.

“I had to defeat Tokyo Olympic silver medalist (Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu) in the semifinals and in the final also former European champion and World Championship medalist (Ukraine’s Tetiana Kob). So each boxer was very experienced and decorated boxer, too, but I still managed to beat them,” Nikhat told News18.com in an exclusive chat.

“So of course, that has given me the confidence to do well in World Championship and Asian Games,” she added.

Right after the success in Sofia, Nikhat had to fight again to stake her claim to be a part of the Indian women’s boxing team for the Asian Games and the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship – all in successive weeks. And she did. Convincingly.

“Of course, it was hard to maintain your body after such hard and intense bouts in Strandja quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. After we came back to India, we took only one day off and again we started training for the trial. After beating such experience boxes and decorated boxers, I had that push and confidence in me to do well,” Nikhat said.

Up next for Nikhat is “relax mode” with some “waffles and pizza” after some gruelling weeks.

“I’ll have something good food for two-three days. Then after that then I can start again.”

Them her focus shifts to qualifying for Commonwealth Games.

“I want to focus on World Championship, then my focus will be on getting the selection for Commonwealth Games that we have trials in June. I just don’t want to focus all together at once. So that you know, when I can’t be focused 100% on one competition I will not be able to give my 100% in that competition. So that’s why no first my focus is on winning a medal at World Championship,” Nikhat said.

Her ultimate goal though remains a slot for Paris 2024 Olympics and by her own admission, she is on track.

“I’m already on that track and I am preparing for Paris as Paris is my ultimate goal. But before that, this world championship and the Asian Games are very important for me. If I do well in these competitions, I will have the confidence to do well in Paris also.”

Nikhat, who has been associated with Adidas since 2017, said their campaign – Impossible is Nothing – mirrors her journey and reflects her own journey up until now.

“The campaign reflects my story and it definitely adds to my story. When I started boxing, many people said it’s impossible for a Muslim girl to make a name in boxing. But I believed in myself and I proved everyone wrong. Women can also do boxing. I showed them nothing is impossible,” she signed off.

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