NEW DELHI: Strange are the ways of the International Boxing Association (IBA). On the eve of the start of the women's World Championships here - which India will be hosting for a record third time - it was learnt that the country's reigning flyweight world champion, Nikhat Zareen, has been offered no seeding for the event.
Curiously enough, she has been drawn in the same half of the draw which features Algerian top seed, Roumaysa Boualam - the reigning African and Mediterranean champion. This means if Nikhat, who will be competing in her newly-acquired Olympic weight class of 50kg at the Worlds, manages to get past Azerbaijan's Anakhanim Ismayilova in her opening round (Round of 64) on Thursday, she will run into Boualam in the second round - a scenario which ideally should have occurred in the quarters or semis stage.
