Nikhat Zareen's Journey to Gold and What it Means for Indian Boxing

[00:00:00] After the marvellous Thomas Cup win, India has yet another reason to celebrate as the Telangana Bond boxer Nikhat Zareens backed the gold medal in the 52kg category at the Women's World Boxing Championship after defeating Thailand's Jit Bang Jutamas in the flyweight final in

[00:00:28] Istanbul. With this, the 25-year-old became only the fifth Indian woman to bag a gold at the World Boxing Championships after record six-time champion MC Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny Aril and Leakha Casey. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi, legendary boxer Vijinder Singh,

[00:00:46] women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal, cricketer Robin Uthapa and many others congratulated her for this incredible feat, in a press conference after the win Zareen asked, Am my trending on Twitter was always my dream to win on Twitter?

[00:01:24] And in today's episode, we'll trace Nikhat's journey in the world of boxing in her own voice as she tells the story of her trials and tribulations and how she fought them back. We'll also talk to sports writer Anand Duttla about what this achievement means for Nikhat and Indian

[00:01:38] Boxing. You're tuned into The Big Story, the podcast where we dissect the headline making news for you. I'm Shorbari. Before I begin, I'd like to tell our listeners that this will be the last episode of this season of The Big Story and counting

[00:01:54] today's episode. I'm happy to tell you that we've had 950 episodes in season one that we try to bring before you a variety of stories from the world of sports, politics, business along with human interest stories and I hope you liked listening to our news coverage.

[00:02:07] And at this point I also want to thank our listeners who have often dropped us emails sharing the words of appreciation for our work but fret not, we'll be back with a season two of The Big Story after a short break and this time it'll be

[00:02:19] in a new style and a new format. We're working on it currently but do keep an eye on the Quinn social media pages where we'll soon be making an announcement for the release of season two but coming back to our podcast today. Nikhat Zareen became

[00:02:34] in name in India's boxing scene after winning the gold medal at the junior world boxing championships back in 2011. Incidentally that gold was also won in Turkey but the journey so far has been all about challenges,

[00:02:47] challenges and more challenges. Growing up in the small town of Nizama Bada there were a lot of naysayers that she had to dodge in the way of picking a career that is largely male dominated but she said that her father Jamal Ahmed who's a

[00:03:00] former state level football player ensured that she had all the support that she needed. And the Quinn sports editor Mendra Dodji had also interviewed the young boxer earlier in May for a documentary titled Nikhat Zareen, The

[00:03:11] Girl Who Fought Back which is available on the Quinn's YouTube page and website. You can also find the documentary in this episode's show notes but let's listen to a small snippet of what she said about all that she had to overcome to learn boxing.

[00:03:24] Me, you know being a Muslim girl they did not like it taking up boxing just because you know boxing me have shots penna pardta hai sleeveless wala top penna pardta hai and at the same time boxing you know known as male

[00:03:43] dominated game to supple a taha ki agar me boxing me jati ho toh apne me face kharaap kar lungi and me apne haath pair to toha lungi toh then who will marry me more than my family I think they were more concerned about my marriage.

[00:04:02] My father never allowed those people comments to get in my head because unho ne bahar ka jo bhi hai unho ne handle ki hai he always told me one thing ki aap boxing pe focus karo ap manat karo aur ap medal jeet ke lau

[00:04:19] hai toh yehi log aange aap ke saath photo khichu haane ke liye yehi log bolenge ki Jamil bhai nikhat se nikhat ka bhaingar khar haame milna tha aasein no and jup me na junior world championship me gold medal jeeta

[00:04:32] everyone was very happy toh tub logo ne seriously leena start ki ok now you know it's a really big thing ki humare nizambar district se a chote se district se aak ladki wo level pe khelri aur humara community ka naam roshan kariye.

[00:04:54] But still there are few people jo bhoat orthodox mentality wale hote still there you know comment on my post jabhi bhi mai kuch casual western kapde pan ke dal le toh still there comment on my you know post ki

[00:05:08] hijab me ro ho, prde me ro ho nah toh but still I ignore those comments and I live my life in my own way. And as Nikhat made her way up she was faced with more tests starting

[00:05:23] with a shoulder injury in 2017 that kept her out of boxing for almost a year and a half and although her family and friends raised worries about how she would continue her career with such an injury, she told the Quinn that she had bigger dreams.

[00:05:36] But what came next was an onerous challenge breaking out of her idol Mary Kom shadow who's only one of the biggest and most legendary female boxes to ever come out of India. When Nikhat was trending on social media the last time in 2019, it was for controversial reasons.

[00:05:52] She had written to the then sports minister Kiran Rijiju to be allowed a fair trial against six time world champion MC Mary Kom for a spot in the team for Olympic qualifiers. She was unhappy because the Boxing Federation of India or the BFI

[00:06:05] had earlier called off a trial bout in the flyweight category at the last minute to send Mary Kom to the 2019 world championships in Russia. Nikhat was mocked online and she was trolled. And finally there was a trial but not for the world championship.

[00:06:19] It was for Tokyo Olympics that Mary won with ease. But the entire endeavour hogged the headlines with both sides flinging allegations of poor sportsmanship after the match. Nikhat Zareen recalled the whole incident to the Quinn describing how it had left her feeling.

[00:06:34] In 2019 the world championship trial was about to take place. We were supposed to enter in the ring, warm up was done and then we were told that there will be no trials in the flyweight category. So that thing has really hit me.

[00:06:50] I felt that I am not a bad boxer and that I don't deserve a trial. So for a fair trial I had written a letter from Sports Minister Kiran Riju sir. But in the last world championship there was no trial

[00:07:11] but in the last Olympic qualifiers there was a trial. And there I lost to Mary Kom and I accepted that defeat and since then I have moved on. I never thought people will take it in this way.

[00:07:25] I will be recognised as that Nikhat Zareen is the one who played with Mary Kom. She challenged Mary Kom. It was just a casual me asking for a fair trial because I did not say directly send me to Tokyo. I was just asking whoever wins,

[00:07:47] if he wins then I am losing and I don't feel any pain. But after the defeat people started coming and this is the one who challenged Mary Kom. But what happened? I lost in the last. I have said in many interviews that I look up to her

[00:08:06] as she is a legend, she is my idol. So why would I want to take her up? Cut to 2022 now when this boxer is trending on Twitter once again but this time for her big strides in the world of boxing.

[00:08:22] Besides this recent win she also beat the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Boussina Chakarolo earlier in February to back the gold at the 73rd Stranjo Memorial Boxing Tournament that was held in Bulgaria. And after winning the gold medal for India in the women's world boxing championship

[00:08:37] she thanked her parents for being on her side. I thank my parents because I never used to call them. My mother used to pray for me. She always prayed for me to win the gold medal. So God has accepted her prayers. I am very happy for her.

[00:08:57] My father is so supportive. This is all because of my parents support and family support. I am really happy. I remember that when my time was going bad no one expected my parents and my family.

[00:09:17] So that's why I was just thinking that I should first help my parents. So that's why I was a bit emotional. But now let's talk to our guest in this episode. Mr Anand Datla, what a larger picture and about what this achievement means for Nikhats Karyaw.

[00:09:35] I welcome you to this episode of the Big Story podcast Mr Datla. Thank you very much. Happy to be here. So the dust has settled down on Nikhats massive achievement at the world championships. This is a huge moment in her career, isn't it?

[00:09:51] Absolutely, as I had already written earlier. I think it's great validation. Validation is precious to every individual. But I think particularly in Nikhats case she's been through her fair share of struggles which are all well documented. To the extent that at some point in 2019

[00:10:15] she was questioning whether she should continue being a professional boxer. I think I've done by familial pressures. And to come back from that and take inspiration perhaps from Ronald Sims, you know, dressing down once again well documented in 2018 to come and win this humongous title

[00:10:39] and join this elite club of five I think is a great moment in her career. And she was also quite dominant at the world championships and also she's been informed this year. Do you think that this is where she truly turns a corner?

[00:10:53] I think absolutely a big corner for her. I think in terms of how she can reset her career aspirations particularly at a time when she is already beginning to think about moving into the 54 kilo category for Paris 2024 I think this is certainly a massive, massive moment.

[00:11:18] You know to come through an entire world championship winning each bout 5-0 is obviously an enormous achievement. Right. But I also want to talk about the larger picture of the sport now. What do you think Nekad's gold will do for women's boxing in India?

[00:11:39] You know in many ways even though Mary has 6 goals and has been sort of a legend many times over I think what Nekad's achievement will do is a phenomenal amount of aspiration and inspiration for girls from you know, tied to towns and cities

[00:12:03] particularly from social backgrounds that tend to obliviate the aspirations of young women at the altar of family structures, patriarchy and so on and so forth. I think one thing I really draw from Nekad's life journey. I mean there are so many layers to this story.

[00:12:23] Initially she had this great support from her father very similar to what the Pogat sisters enjoyed irrespective of the social pressures. You know coming out of a family of 3 siblings where 2 were doctors studying constantly to be an athlete isn't easy either

[00:12:43] so Nekad in that sense has a parallel with baby Sindhu, right? And in Nizambat which is a very small town in Telangana for this young girl to come through in a sport where there was barely any girl standing

[00:13:00] which in turn turned to be sort of her call of destiny as well as a boom because she started her career sparring with boys very similar to what Saina did at the Pulela Gopichin Academy, right? So you know there are so many layers to Nekad's story

[00:13:17] and I'm sure that her gold will inspire a lot of young girls across the country especially from marginalized and vulnerable sort of situations where the social pressures tend to like I said already cost the women their aspirations.

[00:13:34] And would you call this a passing of the baton from Mary to Nekad both of whom may not have been at the friendliest of all colleagues? You know I sort of think of it slightly differently because you know Nekad I think definitely had the opportunity

[00:13:53] to pick up the baton from Mary irrespective. I think Nekad is running her own race. I think Nekad is for me trailing her own path and I think this is a significant moment in Indian sport. And my final question to you Mr. Tatla is

[00:14:14] what do you think is next for a confident and informed Nekad especially given the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics coming up in the next few years? Right. The postponement of the Asian Games is you know not really great for any athlete let alone Nekad

[00:14:33] at the top of her game right now. But having said that I believe Asian Games in Commonwealth will offer her a platform to experiment now with a great deal of freedom because she's a world champion. I think she has far less to lose in these two events

[00:14:51] and therefore should be able to go and impose herself in the 52 kilo category. You know those will be the two big international events in that category for Nekad before she transitions into the Olympics. And I say the Asian Games postponement was not great news particularly from that reason

[00:15:10] because when you move from one category to the next you know when you adjust weight in boxing you need to recalibrate your core strength you know your strength and power of punches and also work very consciously to retain the same levels of stamina or even increase them further

[00:15:30] because with every marginal increment in the categories you know the intensity of competition is relatively high but I believe what this world championship will do will give Nekad the one the aspiration and belief but also I think the juice that she needs to train harder

[00:15:48] to be very competitive in the 54 kilo category. Thank you so much Mr Anand Attila for taking the time out and being a part of this episode of Big Story. My pleasure Shobori. And as I wrap up this episode I want to tell you once again

[00:16:04] that this was the last episode of this season of the Big Story but we will be back with season 2 after a very short break so watch out for the release date on the Queen's social media platforms and I really hope you enjoyed listening to the Big Story.

[00:16:16] This is your host Shobori signing off.