Like all mothers, Parveen Sultana was worried about her boxer-daughter Nikhat Zareen's future. For any middle-class family, getting their daughters married is of primary importance and Nikhat's parents were no different. In fact, Parveen disliked her daughter's keen interest in boxing and tried to convince her to give up the sport.
But for a free spirit like Nikhat, giving up her passion was not an option. But life in the lanes of Nizamabad, where she hails from, about 200 km from Hyderabad, was tough. There were no easy pickings and the rough, uncut diamond needed polish after Nikhat chose boxing over athletics just to prove a point - that she would one day become a world champion.
