Haryana’s Nitu Ghanghas won easily against Rajasthan’s Anjali Choudhary.
Nikhat Zareen has been out of action since the Paris Olympics and the uncertainty around her sport has meant there was little to motivate her to keep going. But at 28, the two-time World Champion is now determined to give her Olympic dreams another shot.
Boxing was recently confirmed as part of the LA28 programme and Nikhat, still recovering from a knee injury that has kept her out of the ring for the past several months, has found a reason to push herself all over again.
“After Paris, I was heartbroken that my dreams of an Olympic medal are over. But then we got the news that boxing is included in LA And now there is renewed hope of another chance to represent India at the Olympics. I hope to not repeat the mistakes of Paris but there is a lot of time for that,” Nikhat said on the sidelines of the Women’s National Championships here.
“Post Paris, I was not sure if boxing would be there so I was not putting pressure on myself either to get back to competition, I was taking it slow. But now I am happy. I believe every athlete should have clarity when they prepare for any competition otherwise they are also clueless what they are working hard for,” she added, indicating the administrative mess in the sport both at home and internationally with World Boxing recognised as the new global organisation.
Nikhat was forced to undergo rehab at the Pullela Gopichand Academy at home for 3-4 months after suffering a meniscus tear post the Olympics and has been training at the Army Sports Institute in Pune since January under SAI coach Sunny Ghalawat. She is hoping to be back to competitive fitness by May.
“An athlete should not be away from competition for long because then there is a feeling of disconnect or detachment with the sport. It happened with me also after Paris but in my case it’s because of injury. If I was fit I would have definitely participated here. Every athlete wants to participate in any competition they get but we can’t help it. I can’t comment on those not participating but I am happy that my team is and hope they will win medals for Telangana,” she insisted.
With a new global body in office and a new set of competitions on the calendar, Nikhat is hoping to be ready for the World Boxing Cups in Kazakhstan (June) and Czech Republic (July). “I want to take it one competition at a time. Main focus is on the World Championships in September and the World Boxing Cup season finale at home and then next year there will be Asian Games and the CWG,” she hoped.
Often considered the spiritual heir to Mary Kom in Indian boxing, Nikhat admitted that it felt good to be looked up to by the next generation. “It feels nice young girls are coming up, taking pictures and looking up to me. I did the same with Mary Kom and I am really grateful for everything,” she said.
But the pain of Paris is still there. “You just don’t move on so easily from anything. But you have to accept it, focus on the future and work harder going ahead,” she signed off.
Nitu, Sakshi win easy
Meanwhile, World Champion Nitu Ghanghas of Haryana proved her mettle with a unanimous victory against Rajasthan’s Anjali Choudhary in the 45-48kg on day two of the competition on Saturday. Nitu dominated the proceedings throughout the bout to advance to the next round.
Youth World Champion Devika Ghorpade of Maharashtra knocked out M. Sumayya of Karnataka in the 48-51kg while two-time World Youth champion Sakshi beat Punjab’s Sandeep Kaur 5-0 in the 54kg and Olympian Jaismine Lamboria comfortably beat Uttar Pradesh’s Ice Prajapati in a bout initially scheduled for Friday.
Published – March 22, 2025 07:29 pm IST
