"Want to become first woman athlete from India to become Olympic Champion": Nikhat Zareen

Last year, Zareen booked her berth in the upcoming Paris Olympics by clinching a bronze medal in last year's Asian Games.

Zareen was defeated by Thailand's Chuthamat Rakshat by a 3:2 split decision in the semifinal of women's 50kg category.

India has yet to see a female athlete win a gold medal in any individual sport in the Olympics. In the men's Abhinav Bindra clinched a gold medal in men's 10m air rifle at Beijing 2008. 'Golden Boy' Neeraj Chopra clinched a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The 27-year-old boxer is aiming to become the first women athlete from India to clinch a gold medal in the Olympics.

"I want to become the first woman athlete from India to become Olympic Champion. Abhinav Bindra and Neeraj Chopra have won gold in the men's category nobody has done it in the women's category so I hope that I return with a gold medal from Paris," Zareen told ANI at the RevSportz's Trailblazers 2.0 Conclave.

With less than five months left before the Paris Olympics, Zareen has been putting in intense training hours to bring a medal from Paris.

"I am excited, this will be my first Olympics, I have already said before that my ultimate dream is to win a medal in the Olympics. Now I am going to the Summer Games and I will try to give my 100 per cent and return with a medal," Zareen said.

In order to prepare for the Olympics, Nikhat took part in a two-week training camp in Montenegro. She opened up about her experience and said, "During the training camp of two weeks in Montenegro, we used to spar with boxers from different nations and it was a good exposure. I got to learn a lot. I will try to learn from my mistakes and rectify them."

After her performance at the Asian Games and her consistency in the past few years, the expectations of fans will be certainly high for Zareen. She talked about dealing with the pressure and how she uses it to motivate herself.

"I like it when people have expectations of me and I take it in a positive way and I use it to motivate myself. In every training session, I push myself and stay disciplined. Sometimes I get the urge to go outside and eat before a competition but I know the Olympics comes once in four years so I keep myself disciplined," Zareen said. (ANI)