Nikhat Zareen

Nikhat Zareen (born 14 June 1996) is an Indian boxer and a two-time world champion. She won a gold medal at the 2011 AIBA Women's Youth & Junior World Boxing Championships held in Antalya. Zareen won gold medals at the 2022 Istanbul, and 2023 New Delhi IBA Women's World Boxing Championships. She also won gold medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. She won the bronze medal in the Light flyweight event in the 2022 Asian Games.

Personal life
Nikhat Zareen was born on 14 June 1996 to Mohammad Jameel Ahmed and Parveen Sultana in Nizamabad city of Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana). She completed her primary education from the Nirmala Hrudaya Girls High School in Nizamabad. She is pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) at AV College in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Zareen has been appointed as the staff officer in the Bank of India, zonal office at AC Guards, Hyderabad since June 2021.

Career
Zareen was introduced to boxing by her father, Mohammad Jameel Ahmed, and she trained under him for a year. Nikhat was inducted into the Sports Authority of India in Vishakhapatnam to train under Dronacharya awardee, IV Rao in 2009. A year later, she was being declared as the 'golden best boxer' at the Erode Nationals in 2010.

2011 Women's Junior and Youth World Boxing Championships
Won gold medal in flyweight division held at the AIBA Women's Junior and Youth World Boxing Championship in Turkey. Zareen was up against Turkish boxer Ulku Demir and after three rounds won the bout 27:16.

2014 Youth World Boxing Championships
She won a silver medal in the Youth World Boxing Championship held in Bulgaria in 2014.

2014 Nations Cup International Boxing Tournament
She won a gold medal at the third Nations Cup International Boxing Tournament held in Novi Sad, Serbia on 12 January 2014. Zareen defeated Paltceva Ekaterina of Russia in the 51 kg weight category.

2015 16th Senior Woman National Boxing Championship
She won a gold medal at 16th Senior Woman National Boxing Championship at Assam,

2019 Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament
She won a silver medal at Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament held in Bangkok.

2019 Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament
She won a gold medal at Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

2022 Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament
Zareen defeated Ukraine's Tetiana Kob, a three-time European Championships medallist 4-1 to clinch a gold medal at the 73rd Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. The women's team was led by coach Bhaskar Bhatt. She also beat Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Buse Naz Çakıroğlu in the semi-finals.

2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships
On 19 May 2022, Zareen won the gold medal in the 52 kg category at the Women's World Championship defeating Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the fly-weight final in Istanbul, Turkey. Zareen became the fifth Indian women's boxer to win a gold medal at the World Championships, joining Mary Kom, Laishram Sarita Devi, Jenny R. L., and Lekha K. C. She was only the second Indian boxer to win a World Championships Gold Medal abroad (outside India) after M.C. Mary Kom, who did it four times out of her six Gold Medals.

2022 Commonwealth Games
Zareen won the third gold medal for India in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham after defeating Carly McNaul of Northern Ireland by 5-0 on 7 August 2022 in the 48–50 kg category (light flyweight category).

2023 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships
Nikhat won 2nd world championship gold medal in 2023 New Delhi IBA Women's world boxing championships after defeating Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Tam by 5-0 unanimous decision in the 48-50 kg category on 26 March 2023.

Brand endorsements
In 2018, Zareen signed a brand endorsement deal with Adidas. Zareen is supported by the Welspun group and is included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme of Sports Authority of India.

Awards

 * Nikhat was appointed the official ambassador of her home town Nizamabad, Telangana.
 * 'Best Boxer' in the All India Inter-University Boxing Championship, Jalandhar, Punjab - February 2015
 * JFW award for Excellence in Sports 2019.
 * Arjuna Award 2022