Salman Khan’s tweet made Nikhat Zareen awestruck, says can’t wait to meet him!
World’s new boxing campion, Nikhat Zareen is raring to go game after game. After her recent golden win at the 2022 IBS Women’s World Boxing Championships, which made her the fifth Indian woman to win a gold medal in a world championship, she feels there’s no stopping. With optimum confidence level, she says laughingly: “I need to ask my mom, ki kya kha ke paida kiya mujhe!”
Since the news of her victory in Turkey, she has been receiving congratulatory messages from all quarters. And some of the memorable exchanges she has had on social media are with Olympic champ (javelin thrower) Neeraj Chopra and Zareen’s favourite actor, Salman Khan! “The first [congratulatory] tweet I got was from our honourable PM Narendra Modi ji. I was really happy to see his tweet. It’s a big thing for me. Second was Salman Khan. I never expected a tweet from him. It is my dream to meet him one day. He said, ‘Do what you’re doing and lots of love’. That really made me awestruck! I can’t wait to meet him.”
So much so is her fandom for this Khan, that she goes on to cite his favourite dialogue, in her own inimitable style: “Mere bare mein itna mat sochna; dil mein aati hoon; samajh mein nahi.”
Mention Turkey and memories of 2011 come rushing back to Zareen, when she started her journey in the world of boxing by winning the junior and even the youth boxing championship. Today, having won the senior world championship in the same city, she looks back at her 11-year journey, and shares, “When things were wrong, I always stood up for myself. I know I am strong, not only physically but mentally. I’m blessed to have such qualities. God has gifted me this since childhood. I chose boxing because I am strong and confident.”
Indeed her journey has been a roller coaster with lots of “ups and downs”, and yet the Telangana-born 25-year-old pugilist says, “I still never gave up on myself. I kept working hard. I always believed that my time will come. And I will prove everyone that I am strong enough and I can become a champion, and win medals for my country. Confidence and mental strength tabhi aata hai when you really work hard, and you can just go and have fun in the ring. Hum log do-dhai ghante training karte hain, [but] why do we get tired in the second or third round? We don’t get tired during the training... [It’s because] when you’re mentally tired, nervous, scared of the opponent, that’s when you get tired in the ring. But when you badly want to win a match, yeh sab matter nahi karta!”
“(One of my) high moments was winning the junior world champ. I was winning all medals in junior and at the youth level. The day I turned senior, it was very tough for me to make my mark in flyweight category,” recalls Zareen, who has today proven her mettle at the world stage. “In 2016, I participated in 54kg category, but didn’t have much experience and couldn’t win medal at the World Championship. I still managed to win two bouts and lost in the quarterfinals. In 2017 January, I dislocated my shoulder and had to undergo a surgery. I had to be out of boxing for one year. That hit hard; it made me physically and mentally strong.”
Taking about who she would like to portray her, if a film is made on her life, she says Alia Bhatt because she too has “dimples” like her. “I like Alia Bhatt. She’s cute, has dimples like me, and can play my role. That would be good,” she says, adding she’s looking forward to, “Eat my mom’s homemade food. I want to have biryani...Hyderabadi, Hyderabadi hi hoti hai.”
Author tweets @Nainaarora8
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