Nikhat Zareen moved a step closer to achieving her dream of an Olympic medal as she beat Jordan's Hanan Nassar in the women's 50kg quarterfinals at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
She needed all of 127 seconds to beat her Jordanian opponent on Friday. Nikhat landed three strong blows inside the opening 30 seconds and the tone for the bout was set. The Indian, a two-time world champion, pushed Nassar to the backfoot and landed blow after blow, with the referee having to stop the bout to employ a standing eight count on Nassar within 75 seconds.
Relentless, Nikhat went for the kill and the ring appeared to be shrinking around Nassar. The referee called for a standing count once again at the 1.40 minute mark and another 27 seconds later, he awarded the contest to Nikhat.
The win is of prime importance for Nikhat:
Firstly, Nikhat has confirmed a medal for herself in her maiden Asian Games appearance by virtue of reaching the semifinals
Secondly, and more importantly, she becomes the first Indian boxer to win a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Nikhat has repeatedly stated that her primary goal was to seal her qualification for the Olympics. "I am focussing on qualification first. Then step by step I'll think of the final and gold," she'd said earlier.
In fact, Nikhat should have sealed a quota for the Olympics when she won the World Championships in March, but since the International Olympic Council has de-recognized the International Boxing Association, no quotas were issued.
Deprived of a quota there, another hurdle was in store for Nikhat at the Asian Games. Despite being the best boxer in her weight category, she wasn't given a bye and was tasked with a tough draw. She faced Vietnam's Thi Tam Nguyen in the opening round, the same opponent she had beaten to win the World Championships, and earned an easy win.
She followed it up with a similar unanimous verdict win over South Korea's Chorong Bak in the next round. Having eased past her opening three bouts, Nikhat next faces Thailand's Chuthamat Raksat, who won bronze in the 2019 World Championships, in the semifinal on October 1.