Nikhat strikes gold, becomes 5th Indian woman to bag yellow metal at Worlds

TIL Desk Sports/ Star Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen clinched the gold medal at the 12th edition of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships after registering a dominating 5-0 victory in Istanbul on Thursday. Living up to the expectations, Nikhat thrashed Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas without breaking a sweat in the 52kg final with judges scoring the bout 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in the Indian’s favour.

The Nizamabad (Telangana)-born 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).

It was also India’s first gold medal since boxing great Mary Kom won it in 2018. Nikhat got off to a lively start and hit some sharp punches to quickly take the upper hand in the opening three minutes against confident Jutamas, who came into the match defeating the three-time World Championships medallist Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova.