Nikhat Zareen at Asian Games 2026: Why She Is Not Competing

India's boxing squad for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, was decided through a trial-based selection process, and Nikhat's 50kg category did not go her way. She reached the semi-final of the trials but lost 1-4 to Sakshi Chaudhary, who had already beaten some of India's biggest names on her way there. That result kept Nikhat out of both the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games squads for the year.

Earlier in the year, Nikhat had a direct route available at the 2026 Asian Boxing Championships in Ulaanbaatar, where finalists in Asian Games weight categories earned automatic selection. She won bronze there but lost her semi-final to China's Wu Yu, the same boxer who had beaten her at the Paris Olympics, missing the qualification path. Sakshi Chaudhary's win over her at the national trials in Patiala was the result that finally decided the spot.

For Nikhat, it is a rare multi-sport absence in a career built on gold medals. Read our complete guide to Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan and see where to watch Asian Games 2026 live in India.

Nikhat Zareen is an Indian boxer who competes in the flyweight and light flyweight categories. She is one of only five Indian women to win a Women's World Boxing Championships gold medal, and the only one to have won it twice. Her rise came at a time when Mary Kom's dominance in the lighter weight categories made it difficult for any Indian boxer to break through, and Nikhat did it by beating Kom herself in a much-discussed trials bout in 2022.

She fights with a sharp counter-punching style built around footwork and combinations, and has often talked about needing to prove herself against reputation and seniority rather than just opponents in the ring.

Nikhat Zareen was born on 14 June 1996 in Nizamabad, then part of Andhra Pradesh and now in Telangana, to Mohammad Jameel Ahmed and Parveen Sultana. She was the most energetic of four sisters, and her father, himself a former sportsperson, first put her into running to channel that energy.

Her path to boxing came from a simple question. At a local stadium she noticed girls competing in every sport except boxing, and asked her father why. He told her there was no reason she couldn't, and she swapped running tracks for the ring, sparring with boys in the local gym since she was the only girl training there. In 2009 she joined the Sports Authority of India centre in Visakhapatnam under Dronacharya awardee coach I.V. Rao, and by 15 she had already won gold at the 2011 Junior and Youth World Championships in Turkey.

Nikhat's breakthrough year was 2022. She won gold at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria in February, becoming the first Indian boxer to win that title twice. In May, at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul, she beat Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the flyweight final to become only the fifth Indian woman to win a world title, following Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC.

A month later, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she won India's boxing gold in the light flyweight category with a 5-0 win over Northern Ireland's Carly McNaul, her first major multi-sport gold. In 2023, at the World Championships in New Delhi, she won a second world title, this time in the light flyweight category, becoming only the second Indian woman after Mary Kom to win multiple World Championships gold medals.

At the 2022 Asian Games, delayed a year and held in Hangzhou in 2023, Nikhat competed in the light flyweight category and won the bronze medal, adding an Asian Games medal to her growing collection. She has also won bronze at the 2019 Asian Championships in Bangkok.

Nikhat made her Olympic debut at the Paris 2024 Games, but the campaign did not go the way she hoped. She lost her pre-quarterfinal bout to China's Wu Yu, who went on to win gold in the category, and exited the Games in the early rounds. It remains the one big gap in an otherwise decorated career, and the two boxers have since crossed paths again, with Wu Yu also handing Nikhat her defeat at the 2026 Asian Championships.

In 2025, Nikhat won gold at the World Boxing Cup Finals in New Delhi, a result that kept her in medal contention heading into the busy 2026 qualification calendar for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

• One of only five Indian women to win a Women's World Boxing Championships gold, and the only one to win it twice (2022, 2023)
• Commonwealth Games gold medallist (2022 Birmingham)
• Asian Games bronze medallist (2023 Hangzhou)
• Awarded the Arjuna Award in 2022 by President Droupadi Murmu
• World Boxing Cup Finals gold medallist (2025)

Nikhat Zareen's story has always been about proving people wrong, from the father who was told boxing wasn't for girls to the world champion who had to beat her own idol to get her chance. Missing the 2026 Asian Games is a setback in a career that has rarely stayed down for long, and with the Commonwealth Games cycle and a home World Championships still ahead, her next comeback is already being watched for.

For her full profile, medal record and competition history, see Nikhat Zareen on Wikipedia.