NIKHAT AND NITU WIN GOLD IN STRANDJA

NEW DELHI: Nikhat Zareen is determined to make every competition count and stay focussed on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Having missed out on the Tokyo Olympics after being involved in a selection row with six-time world champion MC Mary Kom, Zareen is eager to prove herself in the ring.

She started the season with a bang, winning the flyweight (52kg) gold at the Strandja international tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria on Sunday. She defeated Ukraine’s Tetiana Kob, a former world championships bronze medallist, 4-1 in the final. She had stunned Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Cakiroglu Buse Naz of Turkey in the semifinals.

India won a second gold with Nitu beating Italy’s youth world championships bronze medallist Erika Prisciandro 5-0 in the 48kg final. “I have to keep winning against the big names and prove myself in every tournament. Or else, nobody will remember me. I don’t have medals from major competitions and winning is the only way to keep myself in the mix for the Paris Olympics,” Zareen said from Sofia.

The 25-year-old’s biggest medal has been an Asian Championships bronze in 2019. That is also because as a flyweight boxer, she has remained in the shadows of Mary Kom. She lost to Mary Kom in a heated trial bout for a berth in the Tokyo qualifiers.

“Tokyo was not my destiny. I have accepted that and moved on long back. I remain positive and my focus is Paris. It was difficult to train in the last two years during Covid. Now I am getting the opportunities,” said the former junior world champion from Hyderabad.*