New Delhi: Boxer Nikhat Zareen has been selected for Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament which is scheduled to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The tournament will be held from February 18 to 22.
Apart from her, Nitu, Anamika, Shiksha, Meena Rani, Parveen, Anjali Tushir, Arundhati Chaudhary, Saweety and Nandini have been selected in women squad. Zareen is going to compete in the 52 kg category.
In the 2019 edition of the tournament, Zareen won the gold medal.
The women’s squad has been reduced to 10 after two-time Asian champion Pooja Rani (81kg), who recently lost her father, and former world medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) have pulled out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, six male boxers were withdrawn from the tournament due to injuries. They are Govind (48kg), Ankit (51kg), Rajpinder Singh (54kg), Dalvir Singh (63.5kg), Rohit Tokas (71kg), and Gaurav Chauhan (92kg).
The cost involved in both teams’ participation in the tournament will be borne by the government.
Along with the team, five support staff for the women team and four for the men team will travel to Bulgaria. The government will bear their cost too.
Nikhat Zareen
She was born on June 14, 1996, in the Nizamabad district of Telangana State.
In her boxing career, she won various medals including a gold medal at the AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Championships Antalya 2011. She also won a silver medal at the 2019 Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament that was held in Bangkok.
In 2014, she won a gold medal at the third Nations Cup International Boxing Tournament that was held in Novi Sad, Serbia.
