CHENNAI: In what could be a big blow, Nikhat Zareen, the former Commonwealth Games winner, lost her bout at the ongoing selection trials for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Asian Games on Thursday. The 51kg boxer, two-time winner at the World Championships, lost to Sakshi Chaudhary, a former two-time youth world champion, at NS NIS Patiala, where the trials are being conducted under revised norms. This means she might not figure in the Asian Games as well.
"It was a good bout. Sakshi was sharp and had a good jab and very good movement and Nikhat had to adjust a little bit. She got countered, it was a fairly close bout but Sakshi got the bout where she wanted," Santiago Nieva, India women's head coach, told this daily.
The CWG is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to August 2 while the Asiad is set to be held from September 19 to October 4 at Aichi and Nagoya in Japan. As things stand, the selected bunch will be part of CWG and they will also be part of Asiad if they can produce a good run during the CWG.
One of the celebrated women boxers, Nikhat, has endured a disappointing campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics as well. This is a new low for Nikhat, who has been one of the dominant forces at the world level for some time. However, since the Paris Games, she has been far from her best, despite getting maximum support. There has been pressure on her since but the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist has not been performing up to her lofty standards.
In the recent Asian Championships at Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), where she had a chance to secure CWG berth directly, she had just missed out after suffering a defeat in the semifinals. More notably, she had exited in the quarterfinals of the World Championships at Liverpool in 2025.
For now, it's back to the drawing board for the boxer from Telangana. She is still very much part of the national camp and she could be sent for other international events like the World Cup, where she could have a chance to regain her confidence. Following that, she'll be hopeful of building herself ahead of the 2027 World Championships, which will be the first qualifying event for 2028 LA Olympics.
For Sakshi, who's a product of the famed Bhiwani Boxing Club, this is a big boost. With Preeti Pawar already securing a berth at the women's 54kg, Sakshi was forced to move down to 51kg in order to be in the reckoning for the prized CWG and Asian Games berth.
Now, she is one win away from her target. She will face reigning world champ (48kg) Minakshi Hooda, who had also switched to 51kg as 48 is not part of CWG or Asiad programme. "Her work is not over yet. Hopefully, she can get the job done tomorrow (Friday). In the morning (before Nikhat bout), I had just told her that she has nothing to lose and she did well to get the win," renowned coach Jagdish Singh, who has been guiding Sakshi for years, told this daily.
Sakshi had captured the gold medal on Stage II of the World Boxing Cup before going on to lose in the Round of 16 at the Liverpool World Championships last year. Among other results, Jadumani Singh edged Pawan Bartwal by split verdict (3-2) in the men's 55kg category. Deepak Poonia and Sumit Kundu were also among winners on the day.
