Hyderabad :

After Mary Kom’s fabulous effort in London Olympics, yet another woman boxer from India did the country proud.

Nikhat Zareen, the 17-year-old Andhra Pradesh pugilist, won a gold medal in the third Nations Cup International Boxing Tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia.

She defeated Paltceva Ekaterina of Russia 3-0 in the 51kg final to follow up on her success in the Youth World Boxing Championship in Bulgaria in September, when she had finished runner-up.

Such was Nikhat’s mastery that none of her opponents logged a point against the Indian in the knockout rounds. Nikhat blanked Abdi Malika of Algeria 3-0 in the quarterfinals and Ballentine of the Netherlands 5-0 in the semifinals.

The pre-quarterfinals was no different as she defeated a Russian 3-0. “I’m happy,” was Nikhat’s first reaction when she called her parents to confirm the good news.

“It was an easy bout but the achievement is yet to sink in,” Nikhat told her sister.

It was Nikhat’s father, Jameel Ahmed, a real estate businessman in Nizamabad, who noticed the spark in her and enlisted her in athletics when she was 12.

During her brief stint as an athlete, she caught the eye of Dronacharya boxing coach I Venkateswara Rao of Visakhapatnam.

She joined Rao at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centre in Visakhapatnam. And the rest, as they say, is history. Within a year, she was declared the `golden best boxer’ at the Erode Nationals in 2010.

She went on to clinch gold in the flyweight division at the AIBA Women’s Junior and Youth World Championship in Turkey in 2011.

The bright young talent from the state is now targeting a gold at the Youth Olympics to be held in China. “My goal is to win gold at the Youth Olympics and qualify for the 2016 Olympics,” she told TOI.

Considering the progress she’s made in quick time, and her steely determination, it will be no surprise if Nikhat gets more laurels to the country.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Boxing> London Olympiancs / by M. Ratnakar, TNN / January 13th, 2014