Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen lived up to the expectations as she clinched the coveted gold in flyweight (52kg) division with a facile 5-0 win over Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the final of the Women's World Championship in Istanbul on Thursday. Capping off a stupendous campaign that saw her dominate all her rivals, the Telangana boxer out-punched her Thai opponent to win via unanimous verdict with judges scoring the bout 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in her favour.

"I didn't expect to win (by such a big margin) in the final. I wanted to win unanimously," Zareen told reporters later. "My aim was to play the first two round so that I win by unanimous decision and then relax in the third but I got a spilt decision score in the final so I had to go all out in the third round," she added. With this win, Zareen, a 2019 Asian Championship bronze medallist, became only the fifth Indian boxer to be crowned world champion.