Nikhat Zareen, Nitu clinch gold medals for India at the Strandja Memorial Boxing tournament

The Strandja Memorial is one of the most respected Boxing events throughout the year and Indian pugilists have had great success in recent years. This year female pugilists duo Nikhat Zareen and Nitu have clinched gold medals at the 73rd Strandja Memorial Boxing tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Nikhat Zareen bagged her second gold medal at Europe’s oldest boxing event with a 4-1 win in the women’s 52kg final. She previously won the Stranja Memorial title in 2019. She was exceptional with her movement and attack.

Nitu also outfoxed reigning Youth World Championships bronze medallist Italy’s Erika Prisciandro. Nitu dominated her opponent with some great blows as she won the final 5-0 to clinch a gold medal.

Another female pugilist Nandini also showed great panache as she ended up on the podium in the 81+kg category. She ended up with the bronze medal adding another medal to India’s cabinet this year. The Indian contingent concluded the campaign with three medals at the tournament which was India’s first exposure tour this year.

The highlight of the day was Nikhat Zareen’s final clash with Ukraine’s Tetiana Kob. Although Nikhat did not have the best of starts as her more aggressive opponent was much better at the start. However, the Indian pugilist turned the tide and made a massive comeback. But before her comeback, Kob showed great energy and was fierce with his attitude to push the Indian on the backfoot.

The bout progressed and things started looking much better for the Indian pugilist. Nikhat showed great confidence in her abilities and fought back with a 4-1 win in the opening round. The 25-year-old has been in sensational form as he defeated Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the semi-finals. Despite her tentative start, she started throwing some exceptional scoring punches to get back in the reckoning and eventually won the gold medal.

Earlier another Indian pugilist, who hails from Haryana also had a nervy start as he took time to settle down. She was keeping her distance from Italy’s young boxer Prisciandro. The first round hardly had any powerful punches as the second half was more intense as both boxers went aggressive and threw a lot of scoring punches.

Nitu, who is a two times World Youth Champion, defeated World Championships silver medallist Hanna Okhota of Ukraine in the semifinals. She emerged as the more aggressive boxer out of the two and surprised the young Italian with a combination of punches.