IBA World Boxing Championships 2023: Nikhat Zareen creates history by winning second title

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India's ace boxer Nikhat Zareen won her second World Championship title after a dominating win over Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam in the 50kg final on Sunday (March 26).

Nikhat was sublime on the night as she trumped Thi Tam by a 5-0 scoreline and made history. The boxer becomes only the second Indian after legendary MC Mary Kom to win the title twice. This is also her consecutive world title.

The 26-year-old boxer has been fantastic in the Women's World Boxing Championships this year and fittingly gets the crown. The Indian started the bout in an aggressive fashion but Tam weathered the storm brilliantly to keep the former at bay.

But Nikhat showed her class and hit some crucial punches on Tam to get the opening round in an astounding manner as all five judges gave the round to her favour. Although Thi Tam got the second round 3-2, the Indian pugilist prevailed in the final round to get the victory.

In the end, it was an unanimous decision in Nikhat's favour as she topple Thi Tam, who was the first Vietnamese woman in a World Championship final. The Nizamabad-born pugilist also won a gold last year, but received it in the 52kg category.

India have already clinched two Golds prior to Nikhat's victory as Nitu Ghanghas (48kg) and Saweety Boora (81kg) won in their categories and were crowned as World champions.

"I am extremely delighted to become World Champion for the second time, especially in a different category. Today's bout was my toughest in the entire tournament and since this was the last match of the tournament I wanted to utilize my energy completely and leave everything in the ring," Nikhat said after her win.

"It was a rollercoaster of a bout with both of us getting warnings as well as eight counts and it was very close. My strategy in the last round was to go all out and attack and I felt very happy when my hand was lifted as the winner. This medal is for India and for everyone who has supported us throughout the tournament," the Indian pugilist added.

Boxing Federation of India President Ajay Singh was ecstatic and said, "Congratulations to Nikhat on becoming the World Champion for a second year in a row. I am sure that she will be a shining example for young girls all around the country to win gold medals for the country. She is going to be a champion for years to come and we will see an Olympics medal from here in 2024 for sure."