New Delhi: Of late, Nikhat Zareen’s performance graph has moved north. Gold at the World Boxing Cup Finals in Greater Noida last November was followed by winning the national championships at the same venue last month.
The performance was in sharp contrast to what Nikhat, 29, had experienced in the last year-and-a-half. Going into the 2024 Paris Olympics as a two-time world champion, her dreams of winning a medal were shattered when she lost the round-of-16 bout to eventual champion Wu Yu of China.
To overcome the disappointment, the Nizamabad-born took a break, travelled — pictures of her Kashmir trip went viral on social media — before resuming her workout regimen. Only to feel pain in her knee which an MRI revealed as meniscus tear.
After three months of rehabilitation at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, Nikhat returned to training at Army Sports Institute in Pune in January 2025. By the time she was ready, the Liverpool World Championships in September 2025 had arrived.
“Till then, I had lost out on multiple World Cups. After Paris, that was my first competition and that too a major one. Before that, there was no preparatory competition which could have boosted my confidence,” said Nikhat, speaking from Patiala.
Nikhat went down to Turkiye’s two-time Olympic silver medallist Buse Naz Cakıroglu in the 51kg quarter-finals. Though she fought well, she came under severe criticism on social media where she was labelled “overhyped”.
“I didn’t take much stress because I was making a comeback. I was happy with the way I performed. I won two bouts and lost in the quarter-final against the Olympic silver medalist. It was a good bout. Yes, there were a few mistakes. I came back and worked on them,” she said.
As soon as she returned to India, she started preparing for the World Cup Finals at home. “During sparring, I have been working on rectifying my mistakes. Like sometimes (in hindsight I wonder) if I had done double attack, maybe I would have scored more. Mostly, I try to work on single and double attacks,” said Nikhat.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion made a solid comeback by winning the gold at the World Cup Finals. She then started the year winning the National Championship.
“It felt good that I am making a comeback. I won’t say I am in my best form. There is always room for learning. I always try to get better every day. Right now, the training is going well,” said Nikhat.
Nikhat is training under India’s former high performance director Santiago Nieva, who has returned to India as the country’s women’s head coach. For now, she is busy preparing for the assessment — in February end — for the Asian championships which will be held in Ulaanbaatar from March 28 to April 11.
“Right now, I am working on playing with different styles of boxers. How to play with tall boxers against whom andar ghus ke khelna hoga; how to play with short boxers from a distance; how to fight a southpaw. So, I am working on how to make different strategies with different styles of boxers,” said Nikhat, who now lives in Hyderabad.
“The assessment is coming up. Obviously, the girls in my weight category are sparring with other girls in the camp. Preparation is going really well. But my main focus will be the Asian championships. There will be a lot of competition in that event and there are a few boxers whom I am looking to meet this year. I am trying to train on how to play against them.”
The boxers Nikhat was referring to meeting were Buse Naz, Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova, who won gold at the World Championships last year, and Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-oja.
2026 is going to be a busy year for Nikhat as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham follow the Asian Championships. The CWG in July-August will be followed by the Asian Games in Japan in September-October. At the end of November will be the year-ending World Cup Finals. In addition, three stages of World Cups will also be held through the course of the season.
“LA is my ultimate dream. But we have time for that. Right now, I want to focus on one competition at a time. Physically, I am doing good. Training is going well. I want to prepare for the Asian Championships in my best form,” said Nikhat, who is supported by the Welspun group.
“This year is very busy. But I don’t think I will participate in all competitions. The head coach will definitely plan something because one boxer can’t make it to all competitions.”
