Journalism of Courage
Many believed Nikhat Zareen’s toughest bout had been her semi-final against Ingrit Valencia of Colombia. However, Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Tam hadn’t read the script as she proceeded to charge at the Indian boxer in the 50kg title fight on Sunday. The KD Jadhav Indoor Hall is adorned with pictures of Nikhat, and she has been one of the prominent faces around which the tournament has been promoted. However, that didn’t make the final any easier after the pressure of that big bout in the semifinal.
Nguyen gave the Indian hell in their World Championship gold medal match, but still fell short. ‘And still’, the announcer screamed at the end of their match, confirming the result in favour of the local favourite.
Nikhat was the champion again – but it was a narrow victory, far narrower than she would have preferred. The girl from Telangana may have been the defending champ, but the Vietnamese has silverware of her own; two gold medals and a silver at the Asian Championships, and a bronze at the Asian Games.
“This was definitely tougher than my last Worlds gold. I did not have to put in the amount of effort, but the discipline in training and diet I had to maintain. I did not have a lot of time to prepare for this event after the nationals,” said Nikhat after the bout.
Signs of this being a tough bout came early in the first round itself. Tam’s slightly taller frame, along with some lightning-fast hand speed, started to worry the Indian corner. They soon dropped an instruction to Nikhat to increase her range and fight from the outside. Suddenly, the mid-range queen had to relinquish her throne and retreat to keep the fight alive.
While Tam was not connecting frequently, when she did, it was mostly when Nikhat would move into range. For the Indian in that first round, the choice was a straight right, followed by a looping left. Both punches would find their mark, but she’d also get tagged by the Vietnamese in the process. It seemed like a tough round to decide but all the judges scored in Nikhat’s favour. Her output in the exchanges was better, and her punches landed a tad bit cleaner than Tam’s. Tam was also penalised for clinching and docked a point. Refereeing is always questionable when the IBA is involved and it was no different in this title fight.
The second round was when things got messy for Nikhat. On the cards, her strategy was one that has been followed by the Indian team when leading after the first round – go all out, take the second and then coast in the third. Tam was prepared for it and stayed on the counter. A southpaw, she consistently waited for Nikhat to launch an attack and then got her on the counter. In the middle of the round, the referee docked a point from Nikhat, this time for fighting with her head down – another contentious call. Yet the round was again awarded to the Indian.
Often, Nikhat gets blitzed by her opponent. Roughing her up and charging with more punches is one of the approaches employed by boxers against her. In the final, Tam was starting to find success with the move.
The third round saw two standing counts, one each for Nikhat and Tam. Both were vicious punches that landed right where they were supposed to. But while they landed cleanly, it didn’t look like either of the boxers was hurt or merited getting a standing count. And yet, two wrongs somehow made a right and balanced out matters.
In that round though, Nikhat edged slightly ahead. The same story of the first round followed – both boxers would clash, but the volume and accuracy of the Indian was a tad bit better than her Vietnamese opponent. In the end, both retired to their corners, removed their gloves and headgears, and went to the middle of the ring.
The moment the words ‘unanimous decision’ were uttered, Nikhat pumped her arms and screamed at the crowd. She then fell to her knees and uttered a prayer before walking out of the ring – a newly- minted double world champion, only the second Indian after MC Mary Kom.
“It was a rollercoaster bout today. First she got a warning, then I got a warning, then each of us got a standing count. It was very close, especially in the last two rounds. But in the last round, I knew I had to stay true to my attacking strategy, and finally when they raised my hand, I was very happy,” Nikhat reflected after the tough bout.
