Nikhat Zareen defeated Vietnam’s Nguyen Thị Tam to become the world champion in the 50kg category at the World Women’s Boxing Championship in New Delhi on Sunday.
Nikhat won the bout by a unanimous verdict with the scores from the five judges reading: 28-27, 28-27, 28-27, 29-26 and 28-27.
Nikhat, who claimed her maiden World title in 52kg last year, secured her second successive gold medal in an Olympic weight, 50kg, in front of a vociferous home crowd.
The taste of gold was sweeter for Commonwealth Games champion Nikhat, who became the second Indian woman after M.C. Mary Kom to win more than one World title. Her sixth bout turned out to be the toughest as Nikhat avenged her defeat to Vietnam’s two-time Asian champion Thi Tam Ngyuen with a 5-0 verdict.
Nikhat moved in to connect body and head shots on taller southpaw Thi, who was penalised for holding, and won the first round 5-0.
Thi stepped up aggression and took the second round 3-2 as Nikhat was punished for bending too much.
With standing counts on both amidst trading of punches, Nikhat gave it her all despite receiving a cut on her upper lip, which was once affected by herpes and opened up during the bout. After being declared the winner, she knelt down to offer a prayer.
“I wanted to put every ounce of my energy and win the final,” said Nikhat, dedicating her victory to the home crowd.
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