Nikhat Zareen can’t wait to get started. The 26-year-old boxer from Nizamabad stamped her status as India’s most exciting prospect in boxing by winning the world championship last year on her first attempt. On March 16, when the 2023 IBA Women’s Boxing World Championship gets underway in New Delhi, she will have the opportunity to do something that only Mary Kom has done before—win a second world championship medal.
That she will win a medal here (unless she picks up an injury) is a foregone conclusion—Zareen is fast, powerful, and technically gifted in a way that makes her stand out even in an elite field. But what makes her truly dangerous is her immense self-belief and her fierce commitment to brawling. Zareen treats every training session like her life depends on how much of herself she can put in it, and every sparring session as if an Olympic medal is on the line.
But she has also, with the help of her mental trainer, found a way to keep herself free of the stress of expectations.
“I don’t go into a tournament thinking about winning it,” she said. “I go in trusting my skills, my preparation. I want to do well, of course, but results are not always in my hands.”
Zareen will have something new to negotiate at the worlds here—she won her world title in the 52kg category, which is not included in the programme for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so she has had to move down to 50kg, which is an Olympic event. Zareen’s natural weight hovers around 53kg, which means she will have to get used to generating power while losing 3 kilos leading to major tournaments. Looking at her in training, it seems like the drop in weight has not been too hard for her. It may even work in her favour since she has the one quality that’s most coveted at the lower weight categories—speed in abundance.
Lovlina Borgohain
India’s other big prospect at the worlds, the Tokyo Olympics medallist Lovlina Borgohain, has also had to make a weight change, though in the other direction. She won her Olympic bronze in 69kg, but has had to switch to 75kg after 69kg was dropped from the Paris programme. This move takes the sheen off one of her main weapons—at 5ft 10, Borgohain used her height and reach to fight a long-range game in 69kg. Now, she will face opponents of similar height and reach. Indian women’s boxing chief coach Bhaskar Bhatt said that this is something they have spent the last few months working on.
“We have worked hard to get her to fight from a closer range,” Bhatt said, “to get her to close the gap, and improve her close-in defence. Also, we did a lot of speed work with her. Fast hands, fast feet, quick movement. On the other hand, she had to lose a lot of weight to get to 69kg, at 75kg, she is nearer her normal weight, so she feels more powerful and less fatigue.”
Zareen and Lovlina have very different fighting styles, and they are also different personalities. If Zareen never cracks a smile or allows herself to let go of her coiled-spring body language through a training session, Lovlina is utterly relaxed and always ready for a good laugh.
Borgohain’s rise has been phenomenal—it took just four years for her to notch up medals at the Asian Championship, the World Championships (two, both bronzes, in 2018 and 2019) and the Olympics. Boxing, like most combat sports, is heavily dependent on rhythm—if a fighter is on a good run, then the world can be theirs for the taking, and Borgohain is on a dream run.
From her start in the remote Baromukhia village in Assam (which got a paved road only after her Olympic medal), to the big stage has been a remarkable journey, but it’s one that the tall, superbly athletic boxer views with the same relaxed, good-humoured attitude that she brings to everything.
“It’s been great, amazing,” Borgohain said. “I love everything about it. I have always been a fighter, and being in the ring gives me great joy.”
India's talent pool
Does India have other medal prospects outside of the two stars?
“Yes,” said Bhatt, who believes women’s boxing in India has started seeing a big change in talent pool in recent years.
“In the last 5-6 years, we have noticed that a lot of young girls are taking up boxing,” he said. “We used to struggle to find good boxers from a tiny talent pool earlier. That’s changed, and it’s just the beginning. Right now we have a strong team capable of many medals. In the coming years, I believe we will be a dominating force in women’s boxing.”
Saweety, the light heavyweight (81kg) silver medallist from the 2014 world championship, has had a remarkable revival in her career post the pandemic, when she and her husband Deepak Hooda, the captain of the Indian kabaddi team, found solace in training with each other. Saweety, who had started her career with kabaddi, also got back to the sport, which, in turn, helped her find a new lease of life in boxing, she said.
“It improved my fitness levels like never before,” she said, “and I became so much faster.” The 30-year-old from Hisar won a bronze at the 2021 Asian Championship before becoming the Asian champion in 2022. Bubbling with the energy and confidence of someone who has rediscovered a deep passion for her sport, Saweety, like Borgohain, has hit a purple patch that could well see her make waves at the worlds.
Here's a wildcard medal prospect as well: the wiry Jasmine at 60kg, who not only hails from Bhiwani—the original boxing factory of India—but her great grandfather is the legendary Hawa Singh, the two-time Asian Games champion who kickstarted the boxing craze in Bhiwani, and indeed, the rest of Haryana. 2022 was 21-year-old Jasmine’s breakthrough year—she went into her maiden world championship a rank novice, yet managed to work way through to the pre-quarters. A quick learner, she put that experience to immediate use by winning a bronze on debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The first woman boxer to be inducted into the Indian Army, Jasmine has spent the last year honing her gift. This world championship may prove to be her big leap forward.
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