Nikhat disappointed at missing chance to complete a rare treble

She was aiming to complete a hat-trick of gold medals at the now postponed Asian Games after her winning performances at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games

Nikhat Zareen, the reigning world women’s boxing champion and gold medallist at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, says she is a disappointed at missing out on completing what “would have been a terrific hat-trick of gold” with the postponement of the Asian Games from later this year”.

In an informal chat here on Wednesday, the 26-year-old Nikhat felt given the kind of form she was in, and also the confidence she had after winning two prestigious events, she was confident of repeating a ‘golden’ performance in the Asiad.

“With the Asiad being rescheduled to next year, I will try to qualify again and go for gold there,” Nikhat said. “The Paris Olympics is the ultimate dream and the journey started when I was preparing for the last Nationals” she said.

“The biggest challenge for me from changing the weight category from 52kg (in which she won the Worlds gold) to the 48-50 kg in the CWG was to sacrifice my taste for food,” she said with a big smile. “Honestly, I also didn’t have time to really celebrate my World championship gold as I had to go to Belfast for training for the CWG and that training helped me a lot,” she said.

“I am a big foodie and I had to sacrifice a lot to weigh for the desired category. I missed home-made biryani. So, the first thing I reached home was to have sumptuous biryani,” Nikhat said.

“I really enjoyed the CWG and was excited about the first edition. I am very happy that I could win the gold,” she said.

“The focus now shifts to the Asian Championship and I will go for the gold there too,” Nikhat said.