Beating Challenges: The Nikhat Zareen Way
When Mohammad Jameel Ahmed saw that Nikhat, the third of his four daughters was the naughtiest, he decided to channelise her energy. Jameel, a middle class Muslim man from a small town named Nizamabad in Teleangana state of India started taking his daughter to a playground named Collectors Ground as there ws no proper facility near his home. he introduced his daughter to athletics there. The Collector’s Ground was a big one and all types of sports were played. Young Nikhat saw all types of games there. however, something struck her young mind and she became curious. She noticed that all the games were played by both boys and girls except one. there was no girl in the game of boxing. So she asked her father if boxing was only meant for boys. Her father said there was nothing like that and girls do not participate in the game because of the common perception that they are weak and not capable of boxing. It was at that moment that she decided to take up boxing.
Nikhat started to train for boxing. Her father, as usual, was supporting. But the locality where Nikhat’s family lived was an orthodox Muslim locality and most of the neighbours did not share her father’s enthusiasm for girls’ sport. They would criticise Jameel for letting his daughter do boxing. They would also object to her shorts. Jameel, however, did not pay any heed and would also advise his daughter to ignore those people. He said to her, “Don’t pay any attention. These people will want to take photos with you once you do well.” Even her mother was not very pleased that her husband had introduced their daughter to boxing. Nikhat was the only girl in the boxing class and she had to train with boys. One day, she got punched by a boy who was more experienced than her. When she came home with a bloody nose, a black eye and swellings and bruises all over her body, her mother was in a state of shock. She cried uncontrollably. She was worried nobody was going to marry Nikhat in future if her face gets bruised like this.” Nikhat replied, “Don’t worry mother. When I become famous, grooms will line up.”
The resilience of Nikhat and her father has paid off. Today, Nikhat is a start boxer. She has recently won the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Turkey, becoming only the fifth Indian woman to be crowned world champion. She beat Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas 5-0 in the flyweight division.
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It was not just the society that Nikhat had to fight. there have been occassions when Nikhat had to fight injustice of the system. There was a bitter episode when she found herself in confrontation with six time world champion from India MC Mary Kom regarding qualification for the Olympics. However, both of them have buried the past and have decided to move on amicably. Mary who once said she does not know who Nikhat Zareen was had congratulated her on her win and Nikhat also responded in a very positive way.
