Hungry, sleepless Nikhat Zareen picked apart by top-seeded Yu Wu

Rohit Mahajan
Tribune News Service
Paris, August 1
Nikhat Zareen, beaten by Yu Wu, world champion, in the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s 50kg boxing competition, speaks brave words suggesting she’s got boundless strength of the mind — “I’m tough! I’m a fighter! My coach calls me a tigress!”
But she’s broken. She’s hollow, literally. She’s drained out — she’d not eaten, she says, for two days, and she had a sleepless night. “Sir, agar pet me kuchh na ho, how can you sleep, with nothing in the stomach,” she asks.
She hadn’t eaten for two days, she says, because she needed to be 50kg on the weighing machine today. That’s the norm in combat sports, in which a contestant reaches a competition a bit heavy — and strong — and loses weight at the 11th hour, to become eligible to contest in a particular weight category.
A two-time world champion, Nikhat never had a chance against Wu, the top seed here. Wu won the first round easily, unanimously, and just held back from there onward. She was light on her feet, bobbing her head and weaving right and left, and Nikhat found herself connecting thin air again and again and again. “She was not attacking much and my punches were going in the air,” the 28-year-old said.
Trailing after two rounds, Nikhat was expected to go after Wu in desperation — indeed, Wu invited her by keeping her hands low, asking to be hit. However, Nikhat kept back, preferring to try to hit the Chinese on the counter — this defied logic.
The crowd, many among it waving the Tricolour, wanted Nikhat to fight in the third round — they clapped and stomped their feet to the rhythm of Queen’s We Will Rock You, probably world sport’s most popular pop number. But Nikhat couldn’t rock. She couldn’t fight.
Nikhat’s explanation later revealed that, in fact, she was out of power and energy and, with them, the strength of the mind. “She wasn’t attacking (in the third round), and my punches were missing her. So there was no point in keep doing that and losing energy,” she said about the third and final round.
In the end, having spoken words that were brave — even boastful! — she knew she was broken, and tears flowed.