By Aadi Nair
PARIS (Reuters) – Indian Nikhat Zareen, bidding to become her country’s first Olympic boxing gold medallist in the sport, is enjoying competing at the Paris Games after a long struggle to get there.
In 2019, Zareen was among a number of promising boxers hoping to represent India at the Tokyo Olympics, but those dreams appeared to be dashed when MC Mary Kom was awarded an automatic spot for the qualifying tournaments.
Zareen publicly demanded a trial fight against the record six-times world champion and wrote to the country’s then sports minister Kiren Rijiju demanding his intervention.
Kom, who has been the face of women’s boxing in India and inspired a Bollywood biopic in 2014, won the trial by split decision and went on to compete in Tokyo.
Now it is Zareen who carries India’s boxing hopes in Paris and she started well on Sunday with a unanimous opening win over Germany’s Maxi Kloetzer.
“I am competing for my country at the Olympics,” the 28-year-old said.
“I am really happy that after a long time of wait, hard work and struggle, I am here at the Olympics representing my country. Today, I won the bout. I am really happy to start my Olympic journey with a win.”
Asked if she was hoping to one day surpass Kom’s achievements, the twice world championship gold medallist said: “Mary Kom is a legend. I believe no one can break her (World Championships) record at the current time. I see her as my role model.
“She won a bronze medal at the London Olympics. Lovlina (Borgohain) won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. My focus will be to change the colour and make history in boxing.”
Zareen faces a stern challenge in the round of 16, where she faces top-seeded Chinese boxer Wu Yu, the Asian Games champion.
Zareen is well aware of the scale of her task.
“She is the top seed. It’s a big challenge, but everyone is a challenge for me,” she said.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair, editing by Ed Osmond)
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