The Paris Olympics are just over a week away and it will be interesting to see how India delivers in sports' biggest spectacle that starts from July 25. A total of 117 athletes are up for the test, and among them are a few names who India will be most hopeful from.
Nikhat Zareen, 28, is one such figure and despite this being her maiden outing at the Games, she certainly possess all artilleries to deliver the best of performances at the mega sporting event.
Apart from gaining several accolades in major competitions, Zareen also boasts of two gold medals at the World Championships. The first came in 2022, when Zareen participated in the 52kg weight category, a feat that elevated her to the stature of legendary pugilist Mary Kom.
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She was then forced to switch to a different weight category in the following edition, and despite the change she performed equally well. Zareen participated in the 50kg weight category in the world championships held in New Delhi last year; thus aligning with the weight class featured in the Paris 2024 Olympic roster. She then clinched her second world championships gold in front of home crowd.
Zareen now looks forward to create history at the Olympics, targeting a feat which no Indian has achieved so far.
In an interaction with Aljazeera, Zareen was asked about the comparison between her and Mary Kom, to which she had an interesting response. She highlighted the fact that matching Mary's feat is certainly difficult, but is determined to go a step further than the legendary pugilist at least in terms of Olympic medal.
"She is an inspiration and a six-time world champion. I don’t think I can break her world championship record. Chasing that in today’s time is impossible. But hopefully, I will try my best at the Olympics to get to the final round and fight for a silver or gold medal. Mary Kom and Lovlina won bronze medals; I want to change the colour of the medal," she said.
India have so far won three medals in boxing at the Olympics but all of them have been bronze. Vijender Singh won a medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while Mary Kom and Lovlina Borgohain also achieved the same feat at the 2012 and 2020 Games, held in London and Tokyo respectively.
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