“Finally!”
Nikhat Zareen exclaimed as she unfurled the ‘ticket to Paris 2024 Olympics!’ placard handed to go with an imagery to mark her achievement. It was hard to mask her thrill in seeing the ‘ticket’ even if it wasn’t the real one. She looked at it, placed a kiss on it, and later asked if she could even keep it.
Finally, Nikhat’s ultimate dream of winning an Olympic gold medal now has a pathway. The 27-year-old became the first Indian boxer to confirm a Paris 2024 Olympic quota by punching her way past Jordan’s Hanan Nassar in the women’s 50kg category here at the Hangzhou Gymnasium on September 29. In the process, she also assured herself of an Asian Games medal on her debut.
