Nikhat Zareen eyes medal at World Boxing Championships, with renewed focus on LA Olympics 2028
'I'm looking forward to being back on the international scene after a long time. Everyone wants me to perform well there, win a medal and make the country proud. However, more than them, I want to bring back that old Nikhat Zareen who used to win medals at the World Championship. I want to bring back that old Nikhat who has that hunger to win medals at the Worlds,' she told The Hindu.
Nikhat will compete in her preferred 51kg category at the inaugural edition of the event, which is being conducted by World Boxing, the newly formed international governing body for the sport.
The 28-year-old returns to the Indian national setup for the first time since the 2024 Paris Olympics after an impressive show at the Elite women's boxing tournament held here earlier this month. She, however, pulled out of the final citing injury.
Felt the energy at the 8th Elite Women's National Boxing Championship opening ceremony. Proud to stand among champions, past and future!😇
Let's go, champs! 🥊👍 pic.twitter.com/jiEPDI515T — Nikhat Zareen (@nikhat_zareen) March 22, 2025
Self-belief
A two-time gold medallist at the World Championships (Istanbul 2022 and New Delhi 2023), Nikhat reiterated that she was capable of putting bad form behind her and bringing glory to India once again.
'Sometimes it [defeat] happens. It was not in my destiny, maybe. I don't want to underestimate myself or say that I'm not good enough to win an Olympic medal. I will keep pushing myself no matter what.'
'Not everyone can win a World Championship gold medal, not just once, but twice. I'm still that Nikhat Zareen who has the hunger to achieve and make the country proud. I'm happy that I'm finally back in the national team, and the focus is now on just winning the medal,' she added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
WATCH: Rohit Sharma makes an appearance at Oval for IND vs ENG 5th Test
As India look to build a decent lead against England in the ongoing 5th and final Test at the Oval on Saturday, former captain Rohit Sharma made an appearance to watch the team play. In May, Rohit had announced his retirement from Test cricket. 'Hello everyone I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It's been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years,' Rohit said with a photo of the Team India Test cap on his Instagram Story. The announcement came after a wretched tour of Australia earlier this year resulted in a second defeat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the last 11 Test innings, Rohit Sharma had an average of 6.63, having managed to score only 73 runs. Rohit's longest outing was his hit in the second innings at MCG in a 340-run chase, facing 40 deliveries for nine runs. #WATCH | United Kingdom | Indian Cricketer Rohit Sharma arrives at The Oval in London for #INDvsEND Fifth Test Day 3 match. — ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2025 Later in May, Shubman was named the new Test captain for the Indian cricket team and succeeded Rohit, officially beginning a new red ball era of Indian cricket sans Rohit and Virat Kohli, who also retired from Tests. Gill has since then notched up yet another records after records when he became the player with the most runs for an Indian captain in a single Test series in the 5th and final match vs England at the Oval on Thursday. He also has 4 centuries in the ongoing series vs England becoming only the 3rd captain after Sir Donald Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar to achieve 4 tons in a series. On Saturday, Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Akash Deep hit half-centuries as India fought back to score 189 for 3 in the second innings at lunch on day three of the fifth and final Test. Akash Deep hit 66 off 94 balls — his maiden Test half-ton — as the duo shared a 107-run partnership for the third wicket to give the visitors an overall lead of 166 runs against Ollie Pope's England. Akash Deep was dismissed before lunch with pacer Jamie Overton taking his wicket.
Hindustan Times
9 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Yashasvi Jaiswal hammers 6th century, India shatter their all-time Test record, equal world record
Yashasvi Jaiswal's love affair with England continues as the young left-handed opening batter smashed his fourth Test hundred against the Three Lions. The 24-year-old brought up the three-figure mark in the 51st over of the innings. This is Jaiswal's sixth century in the longest format of the game. Jaiswal endured a torrid time in the first innings as he lost his wicket cheaply. However, the southpaw made it count in the second innings, solidifying India's position in the fifth and final Test at the Oval. Yashasvi Jaiswal slams his 6th century. (Action Images via Reuters) Jaiswal has an impeccable record against England as he has been scoring runs for fun against this opposition. Hence, it is no surprise that former England pacer Stuart Broad said on air, 'His love affair with England continues.' After completing his century, Jaiswal took off his helmet and gloves and blew flying kisses towards the dressing room. He also made a heart gesture with his hand. Everyone in the dressing room stood up in applause. India head coach Gautam Gambhir also sported a very wide smile. Indian batters have scored 12 centuries in the ongoing series against England. This is the most number of tons registered by India in a single Test series, bettering the previous record of 11 centuries in 1978 in the home series against theWest Indies. This is now the third-highest number of individual tons in a single series. The record is held by Australia and the West Indies, as batters from the two teams smashed 21 centuries in a series in 1955. 82 of Jaiswal's 100 runs came behind square in the second innings against England, which is the highest by any player at the time of reaching his hundred. Shubman Gill fails to break Sunil Gavaskar's record Shubman Gill fell on the very first delivery of the second session and, as a result, he failed to break Sunil Gavaskar's record of most runs scored in a single Test series. Gill finishes the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with 754 runs to his name. Gavaskar had scored 774 runs in the 1971 series against the West Indies.
NDTV
9 minutes ago
- NDTV
RJ Mahvash Buys Cricket Team In This League, Captain Is Ex-IPL Star
The auction for the inaugural CLT10 (Cricket League T10), a three-day tennis ball cricket tournament, took place in Delhi recently. Notable TV personalities like Sunny Leone and Prince Narula were present at the auction, having invested in teams. Influencer RJ Mahvash, who has been linked with Indian cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, also acquired a team at the auction. Mahvash entered the cricket ownership business as she bought the Supreme Strikers team, which will be led by former Australia opener Shaun Marsh. Mahvash was seen sporting a cream-coloured matching top and skirt set at the event. She also took to Instagram to share some sneak peeks from the auction, highlighting her commitment to her new role as a team owner. "Team RJ Mahvash locked with Captain Shaun Marsh," Mahvash captioned a post on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mahvash (@ Recently, Chahal, during a chat on Raj Shamani's podcast, was asked if anything is going on with Mahvash or anyone else. To which, the cricketer replied, "No, there's nothing. People can think whatever they want to think." "For the first time, when I was seen with someone, people started linking us right away. Even though she clarified it, it was very hard for her. She was called a homewrecker... people said really nasty things. I felt terrible... We could not step out together," he added Talking about their pictures from a Christmas dinner, Yuzvendra stated that it was blown out of proportion. "We had a Christmas dinner with five people, but the photo was cropped to make it look like just the two of us were on a dinner date. It got to a point where we couldn't even go out with friends without worrying about what people would say," he said. Though Chahal hasn't represented India since August 2023, he continues to be active in domestic cricket and the IPL. Chahal's latest competitive matches were for Northamptonshire in the County Championship, where he picked up four wickets against Kent in the first innings but went wicketless in the second. He had a similar outcome against Middlesex. In IPL 2025, Chahal played an important role for the Punjab Kings, claiming 16 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 26.87.
