‘Hurdles made me strong’

Hardened by the difficult circumstances in her career newlycrowned World Champion boxer Nikhat Zareen said she has adopted a combative approach where ldquowhatever happens I have to fight and give my bestrdquoContinuing her stellar run Zareen outpunched Thailandrsquos Jitpong Jutamas by unanimous 50 verdict to clinch the flyweight 52kg gold in Istanbul on Thursday ldquoThese two years I focused on my game only and whatever the weaknesses were there in my game I tried to improverdquo Zareen told reporters after her boutldquoI worked on my strong points and on where I lacked in my game I worked on the aspects where I needed to work and made myself strong All those hurdles which I have faced in my career have made me strong I have become mentally strong after all these and my thought process is that whatever happens I have to fight and give my bestrdquo she addedThe Mary Kom sagaZareenrsquos golden feat comes twoyears after she had written to then sports minister Kiren Rijiju asking for a ldquofair trialrdquo for the Olympic Qualifiers Zareen was trolled on social media mercilessly for this while the legendary Mary Kom had caustically asked ldquoWho Nikhat ZareenrdquoZareen eventually lost the bout to Mary Kom in the trials missing out on qualifying for the Tokyo Games The 2011 junior world champion also had to overcome a careerthreatening shoulder injury which kept her out of the ring for a year and saw her miss all the bigticket events like the Commonwealth Games Asiad and World Championships in 2018ldquoIn 2017 I dislocated my shoulder I had to undergo surgery and then I didnrsquot take part in any competition for a year I came back in 2018 but I wasnrsquot at my peak so I missed the big tournaments CWG Asiad and World ChampionshipslsquoI believed in myselfrsquoldquoBut I didnrsquot give up and after the comeback in 2019 havenrsquot looked back I have taken all competitions as an opportunity and I believed in myself Because of that Irsquom here todayrdquo Zareen will now prepare for the Commonwealth Games trial for which she will have to drop her weight and come down to 50kgsCWG on her mindldquoIn the CWG therersquos a 50kg division I will prepare for that nowrdquo The 25yearold Telangana pugilist has started her preparation for the Paris Olympics but is unsure which weight category she will compete in Shersquoll either have to climb up to the 54kg or come down to 50kgTalking about the difficulties of changing a weight class she said it would be easier to drop weight ldquoItrsquos difficult to change a weight category whether you drop down to a weight division or move up to a weight division ldquoItrsquos more difficult when one moves from a lower weight to a higher weight as you are at a disadvantage with the other boxers being a bit heavy as they come in that weight by dropping their body weight So one faces more strong boxersldquoI guess if I play in 50kg category it will not make much of a difference Normally my weight remains 51515 kg so my body will work well in 50kg So for some time I will continue in the 50kg weight divisionrdquo The 2019 Asian Championships bronze medallist has had a busy 2022 and her aim is to remain injury free ldquoThe challenge is to keep body at peak level after Strandja I had to give the World Championship and Asian Games trialsBeing injury free is keyldquoIt was not easy as there you were playing decorated experienced boxers in tough bouts But I kept my body calm and composed and I managed to win both the trials and the started the preparation for world championships Now I will prepare for the CWG Main focus will be to keep the body free from injuriesrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever