Nikhat Zareen rekindles ambition, but her journey reflects inadequate post-competition support

Two-time world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen went on a solo trek in Jammu and Kashmir to rekindle the fire within. More importantly, it helped her to come to terms with a discovery that rising from disappointments that were rooted in her expectations from herself and from a support system that she believed in.

“I had dreamt of winning an Olympic medal. More than anyone else’s expectations, I had the greatest expectation from myself that I would win a medal. I had invested everything – time, emotions, faith and hard work – in that. And I was in a zone,” she said in a fireside chat with Himika Chaudhari in Mauli Samvad during the National Games in Dehradun recently. 

“I was hoping that I would not have to fight a couple of boxers until the semifinal or final. But when the draw was made, I found out that I would meet the top-seeded Chinese (Wu Yu) in the second round. I had never boxed her before. My sadness increased when a boxer I had beaten twice won a medal in the Olympic Games,” Nikhat Zareen said. 

The 28-year-old went on to paint a grim picture. “I was heartbroken. My dream had been shattered. I was expecting some of my own to message me or call me to cheer me up, but only a couple of persons did that. The one lesson I learnt in the wake of Paris is to not expect anything from anyone. When those expectations are not met, you hurt the most,” she said. 

“It was a low phase for me. I did not call anyone or reply to their messages for months. I went on a solo trek in Kashmir to refresh my mind. I then did things that made me happy – watched movies, went shopping, ate the food I liked and adopted a pet. I prioritised my own happiness as I realised that when I am happy, I can make everyone around me happy,” Nikhat Zareen said.

Clearly, she had been looking for validation from people who mattered that she had done the best she could. And when she met stoic silence from them, she had to find ways to rumble on her own, acknowledging and accepting the emotions churning within her but overcoming them all to recalibrate and return to training. 

“I told myself that ‘Nikhat, Paris is gone. Now, it is your choice to lament it for the rest of your life and be depressed or anxious or to accept the result, move on, work hard and be a better version. It is upon you. You choose what you want’,” she said. “I chose to move and keep working hard. I have set LA28 as my goal and have started working towards achieving that target.”

Nikhat Zareen is not the only Indian athlete to face such a challenge. Each athlete has found his or her coping mechanism.  One got busy with his sister’s wedding and was able to return to competition after a while. Someone immersed herself in taking part in every competition that was available. Another went back to the drawing board and started working with a new coach. 

Undeniably though, India’s sports ecosystem can do better in assisting the best athletes with their introspection in the wake of major events. Rather than leave them to their own devices, India’s leading sports organisations can put their hands up to show that they are available. Fans, supporters and corporates who throng them when they win accolades for the country.

Of course, the athletes’ journeys are their own and each of them has to discover their own paths to return to sport after major disappointments. Yet, they should be able to trust their parent organisations enough to able to seek their counsel and be assured that it would be non- judgmental about it. 

So much is bandied about the support which athletes get in the run up to a major competition. So much newsprint and air space are also taken up in amplifying the celebrations of those who win medals and make India proud. Everyone falls over one another for a pinch of the gold dust off these successful athletes. 

Indeed, as India takes the purposeful strides towards becoming a better sporting nation, a day will surely dawn when its sports leaders speak about the support, essentially emotional, given to sportspersons after they return from big ticket events without medals. No athlete  must be left to pick themselves up on their own, dust themselves and get going again.