Nikhat Zareen: About whom Mary Kom had said – who she is, I don’t even know

You just imagine a scene. Sachin Tendulkar is the most successful Test batsman not only in India but in the world at number 4 in Test cricket. The selectors could not even think of any fan to remove Tendulkar from batting at number four in Test matches.

And what if a batsman as flamboyant as Virat Kohli had started making waves in white-ball cricket since 2008 and everyone was advocating why Kohli was not being given a chance in Tests?

Incidentally, Tendulkar chose not to play a Test series for the first time in his career as an exception after the 2011 World Cup win.

In the blink of an eye, the selectors included Kohli, considered Tendulkar’s natural successor, to play red-ball cricket for the first time in the Test series to be played in the West Indies.

In 2013, Tendulkar was signaled with a lot of seriousness and respect by the then captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the selectors and most importantly, BCCI chief N Srinivasan that he should quit the game as the young batsmen cannot be denied any more opportunities. Was.

In November 2013, Tendulkar gracefully retired from cricket and Kohli not only became the natural choice for India at No. 4, but his stature was nowhere near that of Tendulkar in the decade to come.

But, this was about Indian cricket and since cricket is still considered a decent sport, the transition between the two generations was also handled decently.

Thank you so much honourable @narendramodi Ji for your kind words of encouragement and support. I am truly humbled and proud to secure gold for our country and shall continue to persevere moving forward. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 https://t.co/2b5zAkJCu7

— Nikhat Zareen (@nikhat_zareen) May 20, 2022

But, now see something similar in the world of boxing. The person who is in Tendulkar’s cricket is the same in Mary Kom’s women’s boxing.

Mary Kom had also left her dominance period ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and young talent like Nikhat Zareen pleaded with the Boxing Federation that her claim in the 52kg flyweight category was stronger than Kom.

Not only this, by writing a letter to the then Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on a public platform, Nikhat requested him to get a chance for a fair trial.

Obviously, this self-confidence of Zareen was neither seen by Mary Kom nor by the federation. Mary Kom had also said while taking a sarcastic sarcasm at that time – Nikhat Zareen, who is she.. I don’t even know her!

But, after a heated debate in the media, finally the trials for the Tokyo Olympics were held, in which Zareen had to be defeated. After this defeat, Zareen’s eyes were moist, but it was not the pain of defeat but on hearing the truth from her ideal boxer, which made her jittery.

However, Mary Kom attends Tokyo and returns empty-handed which was not unexpected at all. (Yes, it is a different matter that after accepting defeat, Mary Kom later retorted in the press conference and argued that she thought she had won, that is another story).

From here the chapter of Mary Kom in women’s boxing ends and the future outlines start being prepared in the form of Nikhat Zareen.

Since it is a game of boxing and straight punches decide the outcome, the so-called courteous attitudes of cricket have no place and hence the natural Tendulkar-Kohli transition you didn’t see in Mary Kom-Zareen.

But, Nikhat Zareen’s gold medal win in Istanbul, almost two and a half years after that trials in Delhi, shows that his self-confidence was in no way less than Kohli’s famous will-power.

Kohli was also seen as arrogant and arrogant at times in the cricket world, but Nikhat Zareen kept a mix of his aggressive and combative attitude as well as the decency of his city Hyderabad in his attitude which may have played a part in his success. does.

A superhit film has been made on the success of Mary Kom and Mary herself has been at the top of the athletes to inspire Nikhat as was Tendulkar’s inspiration for Kohli in cricket. Whether a film should be made on the success of Nikhat like Mary Kom in the future or not, nothing can be said at the moment, but the way a girl from a traditional Muslim society enters a fighting sport like boxing and her journey is in any way The film is no less than a story.

Nikhat’s father himself aspired to become a cricketer and also used to do boxing but the financial condition did not give him a chance to turn his dreams into reality.

But, Mohammad Jameel did not allow the orthodox thinking of the society to come in front of the realization of his daughter’s dreams. Not only this, Nikhat’s mother Parveena also encouraged her daughter in such a way, whose example is not found even by the youth coming from very rich families of Indian society.

When Nikhat was first taken to the Secretariat ground in Hyderabad by his father, no girl was seen boxing. When this question was asked by innocent Nikhat to his father, he said that even though the world knows a great boxer like Mohammad Ali, Ali’s daughter Laila was also a brilliant boxer. Hearing this, Nikhat’s eyes lit up.

Winning gold of a female boxer after 4 years in the World Championship is a big news in itself, but innocent Nikhat’s desire was such that someday she would trend on Twitter.

Now who can explain to them that if 200 people together start posting on some useless issue, then that issue becomes trend, but what Nikhat has achieved in Istanbul and has raised hopes for Paris Olympics, it is more than two lakhs. Even more boxers are not able to achieve even after two decades of hard work.

After all, before Nikhat, only 4 female boxers have been able to win gold in the World Championship in the last two decades. Salute to the spirit of Nikhat because this is just the beginning.