If one paid enough heed to the build-up or to the electrifying atmosphere at the Hangzhou Gymnasium on Sunday evening.
It was easy to imagine Nikhat Zareen’s Asiad opener against Vietnam’s Tam Thi Nguyen to be the big final. It turned out to be anything but one. The rematch between the World Championships finalists ended up being a bit of a cakewalk for the Indian who cruised to a unanimous win against the opponent who had given her a bruised lip in New Delhi just five months back.
A crowd favourite, Nguyen’s entry in the boxing hall was met with a deafening cheer. Nine minutes later, not only had Nikhat silenced the partisan crowd but converted them into her fans. By the time referee Bachir Abbar raised Nikhat’s hand to signify the win, the arena rose in unison, giving her a worthy ovation.
Nikhat came off the blocks hot, landing early punches and showing remarkable reflexes to sway away in defence. She quickly sussed out her opponent and landed a combination of left jab and right cross on the Vietnamese southpaw as a collective gasp left the arena.
There was no let-up in intensity in the second round either with Nikhat’s left jab firing early. Nguyen tried to close the gap by cutting the angles, but Nikhat was quick to defend. With two rounds already in the bag, Nikhat appeared far more relaxed in the final round. By this time, she was dictating the pace of the bout. A left jab and a right cross connected early, and seconds before the bell, she landed a left hook to put the result beyond doubt. A unanimous verdict was a just result for a clinical bout.
The two-time world champion was facing arguably her toughest bout of the competition. Nguyen, it must be remembered, is an Asian Games 2018 bronze medallist and a three-time Asian Championships medallist (gold in 2017 and 2022; silver in 2019). Nikhat admitted to being a “little surprised” at the tough draw but credited her stringent training and conditioning for the win. “Yeah, when I looked at the draw, I was a little surprised because you don’t get such a tough opponent early. But I guess, I am the tough one,” she quipped.
“We also trained very hard for the Asian Games. We trained with the Russian team that has helped us a lot,” she added.
Still, opening bouts can always be tricky, especially against an opponent who had run you close in an elite final. “In the beginning of the competition, the mind is fresh but the body doesn’t move perfectly. That’s what makes opening draws challenging. She is a Worlds silver medallist so there is obvious quality, but I backed myself,” she added.
Her strategy for the bout, Nikhat said, was to go all out in the first two rounds and put the bout to bed, something she achieved to perfection. “Everything went to plan. We planned to attack in the first two rounds and conserve energy in the final round. This competition is happening in a foreign land so we always wanted to get a unanimous decision,” she said.
Men’s boxing head coach CA Kuttappa who was in Nikhat’s corner added, “If you look at the World Championships in Delhi, some of the close bouts went our way. Here, we can’t expect that advantage, so the message to all boxers is to try and win by a unanimous decision.”
Nikhat next faces South Korea’s Chorong Bak in the Round of 16, an opponent who she has not met before. “I am taking it step by step. The first goal is to qualify for the Olympics and then go for gold.”
Earlier, in the 54kg class, Preeti beat Jordan’s Silina Alhasanat to enter the quarter-final after referee stopped the bout (RSC) in Round 3. Boxing events continue on Monday with Arundhati Choudhary, Deepak Bhoria, and Nishant Dev in action.