Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen defeated Germany’s Maxi Carina Kloetzer by unanimous decision in the women’s 50kg round of 32 boxing match at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Sunday.
At the Arena Paris Nord, the unseeded Nikhat Zareen, on her Olympic debut, struggled in the opening round but bounced back to win the fight 5-0.
"My Olympic strategy is to take each bout one at a time and my focus was always on this bout," Nikhat said. "After waiting so long, after so much hard work and struggle, I am here at the Olympics representing my country."
In the opening round, Maxi Kloetzer went after Nikhat from the get-go, using her jabs effectively. The 28-year-old Indian, who earned her Olympic boxing quota at the Asian Games last year, countered with some strong blows but the judges went 3:2 in favour of the German.
With the stakes high, Nikhat went on the attack early in the second round. Both boxers had a point deduction for violations, but Nikhat turned things in her favour.
Both boxers ran out of energy in the third bout, but Nikhat Zareen used all her experience to sway away from the German’s attacks.
Eventually, the two-time world champion emerged on top in the third round as well, coming from behind after the opening two minutes, to win by unanimous decision.
Nikhat Zareen now sets up a clash against top-seeded Wu Yu of the People’s Republic of China’s in the round of 16 on Thursday. Wu Yu is the reigning world champion in 52kg and won a gold at the Asian Games last year.
"I’ll now sit with my coaches and will watch (Wu Yu's) game and make a strategy," Nikhat said. "She is the top seed. It’s a big challenge, but everyone is a challenge for me. I can’t take it easy on anyone. I can just better my performance in each bout."
Indian boxers will be in action next on Tuesday, with Amit Panghal and Jaismine Lamboria competing in the men’s 51kg and women’s 57kg categories, respectively.
Lamboria will be up against Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines, a silver medallist from Tokyo 2020. Meanwhile, Panghal will take on Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba.
Source:
https://olympics.com/en/news/paris-2024 ... hat-zareen