3 min learnChandigarhCould 14, 2026 11:04 PM IST
Two-time World Champion Nikhat Zareen exited from the boxing trials of the Commonwealth Video games and Asian Video games following a 1-4 loss to World Junior Champion Sakshi Chaudhary within the semifinals of the 51-kg class on the Nationwide Institute of Sport in Patiala.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) shifted from an evaluation system to trial bouts with speedy declaration of the winner after intervention from the Sports activities Authority of India (SAI). The BFI’s evaluation system was suspended after a number of complaints of alleged lack of transparency and bias.
Indian ladies’s crew head coach Santiago Nieva stated that Nikhat was forward of the opposite boxers within the final evaluation.
“She has to show she is best than the opposite women. Within the final evaluation, she did barely higher than her opponents. This time, she misplaced in a detailed bout. So, she wants to stay centered and make some changes. Preserving in thoughts the primary Olympic Qualifier is in April 2027, which is the World Championships in Kazakhstan, she would have loads of time to make a comeback,” Nieva informed The Indian Specific.
The coach added that Sakshi was ‘very sharp’ and that there have been many potential medalists within the 51-kg class.
“It was bout. Sakshi performed very effectively. In that weight class, we have now many potential medalists. So yeah, it was bout. However Sakshi was very sharp immediately and managed to win,” Nieva stated.
With Sakshi, a 2025 World Cup medalist and world championships quarter-finalist within the 54 kg class final 12 months, making a swap to 51kg for the trials, together with final 12 months’s 48kg World Champion Minakshi Hooda and 2022 CWG champion Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat was a part of a powerful discipline. Nitu was defeated by Minakshi on Wednesday. Nikhat will now have to return to the drafting board.
Nieva, who was the high-performance director earlier, shared how the two-time world champion must undertake a extra offensive method when within the ring and must make small changes. “I’d say when she is boxing from outdoors, she does very effectively. However there’s at all times a scope for enchancment. And her offensive recreation has improved lots. However immediately she would have wanted a bit extra consistency in her offensive recreation. She must hold engaged on these issues, and generally small changes and enhancements could make the distinction,” Nieva stated.
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Nikhat had topped BFI’s evaluation course of — a system based mostly on sparring bouts and different parameters — for this 12 months’s Asian Championships in Mongolia. At Mongolia, Nikhat had misplaced within the semifinals and missed out to an assured spot within the Indian crew for the Commonwealth Video games and Asian Video games.
Within the males’s 55kg class, Jadumani Singh scored a 3-2 win over Pawan Bartwal to enter the ultimate, whereas Sumit Kundu scored a win over Hitesh Gulia within the 70kg semifinals. Former world youth champion Jyoti Gulia, who had misplaced within the evaluation for the Asian Championships within the 51kg, too, was competing within the trials and went right down to Minakshi within the quarters.
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