Nikhat Zareen wins gold medal at Women's World Boxing Championships; defeat Jitpong Jutamas

Nikhat Zareen had a dominant performance at the 2022 IBA Women's World Championships in Istanbul by defeating Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the 52kg final to win gold medal on Thursday.

Zareen became only the fifth Indian female boxer to win gold at the World Championships in the process. Zareen beat the Thai pugilist in the final, winning by unanimous decision.

Zareen, who had previously won the Youth World Championships, had won all of her bouts by equal margins on her way to gold, having defeated Brazil's Caroline De Almeida in the semi-finals.

MC Mary Kom, a six-time global champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, is one of four Indian women to have won gold at the elite level, the most recent victory coming in New Delhi in 2018. L Sarita Devi, Jenny RL, and Lekha C are the other Indian winners.

Apart from Nikhat, bronze medalists Manisha Moun (57kg) and Parveen Hooda (63kg) were given after losing semi-final bouts against Irma Testa and Amy Broadhurst, respectively.

Nikhat lived up to the hype, thrashing Jutamas in the 52kg final without breaking a sweat, with judges scoring the battle 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in favour of the Indian.

The tournament presented exciting competition and marked the 20th anniversary of the Women's World Championships, which attracted a record 310 fighters from 73 countries.

In this year's event, eight Indian boxers made it to the quarter-finals, which was tied with Turkey for the most.

With three more medals in Istanbul, India now has 39 medals in the World Women's Boxing Championships, including 10 gold, eight silver, and 21 bronze in the 12 editions of the famous tournament. After Russia (60) and China (60), this is the third highest (50).