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Nikhat
Zareen, a champion in the making
Tuesday May 03, 2011 08:24:49 PM,
Mohammed Shafeeq , IANS
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Fifteen-year-old Nikhat Zareen
holding the gold medal she won at the Junior World Cup women's
boxing championship held in Antalya, Turkey.
(Photo: IANS)
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Hyderabad: "When
Mohammed Ali's daughter can do it why can't I?" asked Nikhat
Zareen when she took to the boxing ring two years ago. The
15-year-old girl from Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh made
history Saturday by bagging the gold in the Junior World Cup
women's boxing championship in Antalya (Turkey) in the flyweight
category. Nikhat, who is the first boxer from the state to achieve
the feat, has now set her eyes on the 2016 Olympics.
"She always says winning a medal at the Olympics is her ultimate
goal," her proud father Mohammed Jameel Ahmed told IANS.
Coming from a modest background but a family which produced
international pugilists, Nikhat has achieved what many girls of
her age can only dream of.
The ninth standard student of Nirmala Vidya Convent School took to
the boxing ring when she was 13 but proved her mettle with her
hard work, discipline and commitment.
Nikhat is the third among the four daughters of Jameel and Parveen
Sultana. The couple has no son but treats her like one.
"We know it is not easy for girls to take to sports, but in her
case it was not a difficult decision. She wanted to follow into
the footsteps of her cousins, who are international boxers. So
this is like a family game for her," said Jameel Ahmed, a former
state-level football player who now works as a salesman in Saudi
Arabia.
Nikhat did not have to search for a coach either. Spotting the
inborn qualities of a boxer, her uncle Mohammed Samsamuddin,
started training her in the open space at the Sports Authority of
Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) training centre in Nizamabad. Lack of proper
infrastructure did not deter her from achieving her goal.
Nikhat started practising with her three cousins - Ehteshamuddin,
Itesamuddin and Mohammed Farooq - who are international boxers.
"She developed interest in boxing after watching my three sons,
practised with them and thus grew in confidence and courage," said
Samsamuddin, who is secretary of the Nizamabad Boxing Association.
"She has some natural qualities of a boxer like her physique and
hand-eye coordination. She has an amazing capability of learning
things quickly and is very disciplined."
Though she is only 14 (she will be turning 15 on June 14) and is
eligible for the sub-junior category, it was because of her talent
that she was picked for the Junior World Cup.
"At a very young age she has achieved tremendous success, made her
town, state and the country proud. This is the grace of Almighty
Allah," said Samsamuddin, who is determined to help Nikhat achieve
her Olympic dream.
(Mohammed
Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)
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