Ace India boxer Nikhat Zareen won the IBLA ‘Sports Leader Of The Year’ Award 2023 organised by CNBC TV. Nikhat, who recently won the second world championship title, piper other nominees in the category - badminton players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra, hockey player Savita Punia and cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur to win the prestigious award.
#LegacyInspiringExcellence | @nikhat_zareen wins ‘Sports Leader Of The Year’ award at at #CNBCTV18IBLA.#18YearsOfIBLA @ShereenBhan @latha_venkatesh @StanChartin pic.twitter.com/QBO23gL0n2— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) May 11, 2023
The Year 2022 belonged to Nikhat as she claimed a hat-trick of gold medals last year. She started the year by etching her name in the history books as she became the first Indian boxer to win a second gold medal at the prestigious Strandja Memorial tournament. After that, she won India’s first yellow metal in four years at the World Championship.
The young boxer then entered the Commonwealth Games as a strong medal contender and she didn’t disappoint, clinching the 50kg title.
Meanwhile, after winning the IBLA ‘Sports Leader Of The Year’ Award, Nikhat said that, “My ultimate dream is to win the Olympic gold for the country and will try her best to get it done in Paris Olympics."
She also expressed her gratitude on Twitter and thanked CNBC-TV18 for honouring her on Thursday.
“Honoured to have won the IBLA ‘Sports Leader Of The Year’ Award 2023. Thank you for this honour @CNBCTV18News #CNBCTV18IBLA," she wrote on Twitter.
Honoured to have won the IBLA ‘Sports Leader Of The Year’ Award 2023. 🏆Thank you for this honour @CNBCTV18News #CNBCTV18IBLA pic.twitter.com/Afq20yGgY1— Nikhat Zareen (@nikhat_zareen) May 11, 2023
Earlier this year, reigning World champion Nikhat Zareen defeated two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam 5-0 in the 50kg category final at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.
Nikhat has already qualified for the Asian Games, which is also an Olympic qualifier.
For selection to the Asian Games, to be held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China, the Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) policy states “Athletes who achieve Gold/Silver at World championships will be an automatic selection for the first Olympic qualifier at the Asian Games.”