India's Nikhat Zareen clinched India's 10th gold medal at the World Boxing Championships in Turkey on Thursday (May 19). She did that with a dominant 5-0 win over Thailand`s Jitpong Jutamas in the 52 kg final. The 25-year-old boxer became the only fifth Indian woman to secure a gold medal at the World Boxing Championships after record six-time champion Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006) and Lekha KC (2006).
Nikhat kept on having off the ring tussles with Indian boxing legend MC Mary Kom. Nikhat was the boxer who had objected to Mary's automatic selection for the World Championships in 2019. She argued that no boxer, whether rookie or legend, should be selected without any trial.
Silver in Thailand Open in 2019. Bronze in Asian Championships, 2019. Gold in Strandja Memorial in 2019. Bronze in India Open, 2019. Bronze in Bosphorus, 2021. Gold in Stradja Memorial, 2022.
Nikhat worked hard on her game with American coach Ronn Simms at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Vijaynagar.
She came to the limelight in 2011 when she became World Junion boxing champion in 50 kg. That event was also held in Turkey.
Nikhat hails from Nizamabad in Telangana in India. She has been making headlines since her junior days.