Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen, gold medal winner in Women's World Championship in the flyweight (52kg) category, gave a pleasant surprise to social media users by tweeting a photo with former world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom. “No victory is complete without your idol’s blessings,” Nikhat wrote along with a photo with Mary Kom on Tuesday.
Nikhat's tweet comes a few days after Mary congratulated her for winning the prestigious world championship. The pleasantatries exchanged between the two star boxers indicated that both of them have moved on from their not-so memorable past.
In the 2019 edition of the senior World Championships, Mary Kom was preferred over Zareen because of her consistent performances despite the latter asking for a fair trial from the BFI. Mark Kom went on to claim her eighth world medal, a bronze.
{{/usCountry}}In the 2019 edition of the senior World Championships, Mary Kom was preferred over Zareen because of her consistent performances despite the latter asking for a fair trial from the BFI. Mark Kom went on to claim her eighth world medal, a bronze.
{{/usCountry}}This time, Zareen clinched the coveted gold with a facile 5-0 win over Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the final of the Women's World Championship in Istanbul on May 19, thus becoming only the fifth Indian boxer to be crowned world champion.
"I am happy that I have won a gold in the World Championships for the country and in future too I would like to put in more hardwork and keep on winning medals for India," Zareen, also a 2019 Asian Championship bronze medallist, said during a felicitation function organised jointly by the Sports Authority of India and national federation (BFI).
"Olympics is my ultimate goal but to achieve success there I will have to put in lot of hardwork because I know how big a competition Olympics is? I have to give double the effort I have done till now.
"Now there is more responsibility on me."
Since winning a gold medal in flyweight division at the Women's Junior and Youth World Boxing Championship in Turkey in 2011, it has been a difficult journey for Zareen.
"The journey has been pretty good. It was not easy as I have witnessed many ups and downs but that motivated me to stand where I am today," an emotional Zareen said.