India's Nikhat Zareen wins silver at Youth World Boxing

Former Junior World Champion Nikhat Zareen (54kg) came one step short of making it two titles in two World Championships in Albena on Saturday. The 17-year-old did exceptionally well to make it to finals of the AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships being held at Bulgaria, but in the end had to settle for a Silver Medal performance after losing out in the title clash. As a 15-year-old, Zareen had won the gold medal in fly weight division at the inaugural edition of the AIBA Women’s Junior & Youth World Boxing Championship in 2011. [caption id=“attachment_1140865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nikhat beat the world champion on the way to the final. IBF Media[/caption] The Andhra boxer has since moved into the Youth category and competes in the bantam weight division. She gave a brilliant account of her boxing skills beating reigning bantam weight Junior World Champion Viktoriya Virt of Ukriane to make to the finals at Albena. In the summit clash, the former Junior National Champion was up against Yunzi Yuan of China. The Chinese boxer proved to be stronger of the two on the day of finals; Zareen tried hard to penetrate her guard, but Yunzi blocked well and kept nicking points on the counter. The Indian adopted a more aggressive approach in the final round, but her opponent was up to the task and kept the advantage with some precise attacks. Nikhat lost on a unanimous decision in the end. “I tried hard to land more scoring blows, but my opponent’s defence was hard to break. I suppose she had sound strategy and boxed well technically. I am happy with my performance, but would have loved to get my hand on the gold medal”, said Nikhat after the final. Earlier in the Youth World Championship light weight boxer Simranjit Kaur (60kg) lost out in a close contest against Aidana Arapbayeva from Kazakhstan. Whereas in the Junior WC, upcoming boxer from Madhya Pradesh, Asha Roka (48kg) displayed good potential but in the end came up short at the hands of Assyl Askarova of Kazakhstan. Both boxers had to settle for a Bronze Medal performance from the championships.