Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen made a triumphant return after recent heartbreaks, registering a unanimous 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan\u2019s Ganieva Gulsevar in Greater Noida on Wednesday to storm into the World Boxing Cup Finals gold medal match.<\/p>\n
Greater Noida: Nikhat Zareen was among key medal hopes for the country at the Paris Olympics last year. The Indian boxing star, after all, had won back-to-back gold medals at the World Championships, albeit in different weight categories. She had also won a Commonwealth Games gold and an Asian Games bronze during this fruitful period, and the STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n Nikhat, unfortunately, The 29-year-old from Andhra Pradesh\u2019s Nizamabad had a chance to redeem herself at the World Championships in United Kingdom\u2019s Liverpool in September, but this time ran into two-time Olympic silver medallist Buse Naz Cakiroglu. As was the case against Wu, Nikhat suffered a 0-5 demolition at the hands of the Turkish pugilist.<\/p>\n Back with a bang after Olympic and World Championships heartbreaks<\/p>\n On Wednesday, at the World Boxing Cup Finals in Greater Noida, Nikhat was relieved to not only returning to winning ways, but to collect a medal at an international event after what felt like an eternity. Nikhat headlined the penultimate day of the event \u201cI\u2019m really happy that after the Paris Olympics, my medal account has finally opened at the international level. I\u2019m really glad that I\u2019m winning a medal here at the World Boxing Cup Finals. Hopefully I\u2019ll win a gold from here on,\u201d Nikhat said after defeating Uzbekistan\u2019s Ganieva Gulsevar in the women\u2019s 51kg semi-finals on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t perform as expected in my first bout, but that\u2019s fine. What matters is that I won in the end. Looking forward to facing Chinese Taipei in the final,\u201d she said, referring to her gold medal bout against Guo Yi Xuan in the final.<\/p>\n STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n And the kind of reception that she had received on Wednesday at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, it would have been difficult for Nikhat to not finish on the winning side. The support at the venue has been growing steadily with each passing day since the opening ceremony on Saturday, and there was a decent turnout for the semi-final bouts on Wednesday.<\/p>\n And while the spectators cheered loudly for each of the nine Indian competitors on Day 4 of the competition, it was clear that Nikhat commanded a following like no other. The roar that reverberated around the indoor arena was like no other and the 29-year-old was accorded the kind of reception that is reserved for rockstars, complete with chants of \u201cBharat Mata Ki Jai\u201d, \u201cHow\u2019s The Josh\u201d, \u201cIndia! India\u201d with the Indian tricolour being waved around in the stands.<\/p>\n Fitting reception for India\u2019s biggest boxing star<\/p>\n For Nikhat, it was a throwback to the time she had won her second successive IBA World Championship in New Delhi in March 2023, which surely would be the highlight of her career so far.<\/p>\n \u201cFeeling elated after winning today\u2019s bout, especially in front of a home crowd. It was a moment to be remembered. I felt nostalgia because it was also in front of a home crowd in 2023 that I had been crowned world champion. This time I won the semi-final bout and entered the final. So tomorrow is my final against Chinese Taipei, so I\u2019m looking forward to facing her and win that final bout and win gold for the country,\u201d Nikhat continued.<\/p>\n STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n The 29-year-old will have a busy schedule ahead, with the Asian Games as well as Commonwealth Games taking place next year. Nothing, however, will be more important for Nikhat than standing on the podium at the next Olympics \u2013 in Los Angeles less than three years from now. The boxing star, after all, has painted the Olympic rings in her room along with \u2018LA 2028\u2019 in her room, reminding herself to \u201cnever stop dreaming\u201d.<\/p>\n Nikhat, however, is also ensuring that she doesn\u2019t fly too high and forget to remain in the present, especially after being served a reality check at last year\u2019s Olympics as well as the World Championships two months ago.<\/p>\n STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n \u201cI have a long way to go from here, and I want to focus on one competition at a time. For now, I\u2019m focusing on the World Boxing Cup Finals, and will be shifting my attention to other events as and when they happen,\u201d Nikhat, who will be among 14 Indians competing for gold in Greater Noida on Thursday, said while signing off.<\/p>\n Home<\/a>Sports<\/a>‘A moment to be remembered’: Nikhat Zareen receives rockstar’s welcome as she fights her way back from recent heartbreaksEnd of Article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen made a triumphant return after recent heartbreaks, registering a unanimous 5-0 victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[112262,2560,6102,112267,112263,56197,112257,112265,112258,112259,112266,101,56,54,55,112264,112260,112261],"class_list":["post-273100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-2025-world-boxing-cup-finals","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-ganieva-gulsevar","tag-indian-boxing","tag-nikhat-zareen","tag-nikhat-zareen-boxing","tag-nikhat-zareen-paris-olympics","tag-nikhat-zareen-world-boxing-cup-finals","tag-nikhat-zareen-world-boxing-cup-finals-2025","tag-nikhat-zareen-world-championships","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-boxing-cup","tag-world-boxing-cup-finals","tag-world-boxing-cup-finals-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npossibility of her becoming only fourth Indian to win an Olympic gold appeared brighter than ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nran into China\u2019s Wu Yu in the pre-quarter-finals<\/a>, crashing out of the event with a lopsided 0-5 defeat against the eventual gold medallist. The early exit from Paris was followed by a shoulder injury that kept her out of action for a year.<\/p>\n
\nalong with World Championship gold medallist Jaismine Lamboria<\/a>, the two stars storming into the final after winning by a unanimous verdict.<\/p>\n