Nikhat Zareen's Olympic campaign came to an early end on Thursday as she lost to China's Wu Yu in the round-of-16 of the women's 50kg division.
It was always going to be a tough bout: two world champions facing each other early in the competition, a boxer who has lost only two bouts in over two years against the top seed who is also the Asian Games champion.
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The thing was, though, that it wasn't just a defeat for Nikhat, it was a beating. She was outplayed in every aspect. More than the defeat, that's what will sting Nikhat.
From the opening minute, Nikhat was the second-best in the ring. Wu landed the first punch and stayed just far enough from Nikhat to duck under and weave away from the Indian's gloves. Nikhat cautiously inched closer to Wu, but the Chinese boxer did something that put Nikhat off: she switched stances from a southpaw stance to an orthodox stance, which had Nikhat befuddled.
Each time Nikhat went for a combination of punches, Wu had a simple response: just step back. You could sense the frustration on Nikhat's face -- here she was, using every bit of power in her body and swinging her fists...only to swing at the air.
As the frustration built within Nikhat, Wu got stronger. She shuffled her feet around, dancing around her, and landed punches even when on the move. Nikhat's first clear jab was deep into the second round, but it just wasn't enough. The Indian camp ringside asked Nikhat to get closer to Wu and take the fight to the Chinese boxer, but for every advance Nikhat made, Wu had a response.
Nikhat tried, but it was always going to be hard to land a punch on someone who was running circles around you.
With the first two rounds going Wu's way, Nikhat needed something special in the final round to impress the judges. She got herself into good attacking positions and dished out a series of swinging hooks, which Wu dodged calmly. The Chinese boxer looked like she had not broken a sweat as she side-stepped or back-stepped her way out of Nikhat's punches.
Rubber-stamping her credentials as the top seed, Wu toyed with Nikhat at the end with an open guard and just as Nikhat bit the bait and swooped in, Wu side-stepped to land a jab square on Nikhat's face. That was effectively the end of the bout as Wu went on to win via unanimous verdict - meaning all five judges thought she was the better boxer.
Nikhat's resigned face at the end spoke volumes.
Nikhat, who was handed a tough draw, sees her Olympic journey cut short but if there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that she will be back. As she did after the Tokyo Olympics where Mary Kom had represented India after beating Nikhat in a highly charged trials, the mental countdown for the LA 2028 Olympics would have begun in Nikhat's head. Another four years to go for that elusive Olympic medal, then.