Nikhat Zareen beat bronze medalist MC Mary Kom from the December 2019 London Games in fire and fury after an ugly selection process that punched his ticket to Tokyo. Many things have happened since that hot winter night. A two-time world champion and Asian Games bronze medalist, 27-year-old Nikhat has evolved from a fierce competitor to a passionate torchbearer. Yet the unfulfilled need for what she felt was always hers only grew stronger. She persevered despite terrifying adversaries and, because of it, anonymous mayors. And Nikhat is not about to give up now that the moment is almost here. 

He can also hit hard. Similar to earlier this year at the Strandja Memorial in Sofia, she went there with the intention of "trying a few things". Before losing to Uzbekistan's Sabina Bobokulova in a split decision (2-3) in the championship match, the 50kg fighter defeated Bulgaria's Zlatislava Chukanova (5-0), France's Lkhadiri Wassila (5-0) and Mongolia's Oyuntsetseg Yesugen (3-2). , who won bronze at the World Championships.

"My only motivation for participating in Strandja was self-evaluation. My goal is to compete as an underdog at the Olympics. Being the underdog world champion seems amazing," she noted. There are some interesting names in the 50kg Olympic weight class, and one of them might surprise you. It's a very competitive group that includes fighters Nikhat, who he boxed against in Strandja, Wu Yu of China and Raksat Chuthamat of Thailand. However, Nikhat remains undeterred. "They must be afraid of me. I don't care about reputation in the ring," she declared. I don't believe there are any secrets these days. Just as I study their game, my opponents evaluate mine. I grow better the more I compete.

Nikhat tried "something new" at Strandja and mentally noted each opponent. “Although I can't go into details yet, I have tried a few things. Not all turned out to be genuine. The plan is to present an alternative image of myself from the World Cup. I create a backup plan for each fighter. It is also possible that some of the boxers I encountered in Strandja will compete in the Olympics. After the Strandja competition, Nikhat attended a camp in Montenegro, where he fought boxers from Tajikistan, Japan, Hungary and Greece.

Despite detailed round-by-round preparation, fights are still decided in the ring. When a boxer gets punched in the face, all pre-fight analysis is useless, as Mike Tyson famously said. Because of this, the fighter must be prepared to reappear during the fight. Nikhat is currently in the final stages of Paris preparations, spending ten days training in Kastamon in northern Turkey with two coaches and other athletes heading to Paris. The trip is covered by a TOPS grant from the Ministry of Sports. After the trip to Turkey, there will probably be a practice competition in May.