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A 25-year-old boxer from Telangana has become the fifth Indian woman to win a world championship title.
On May 19, Nikhat Zareen beat Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas in the 52kg flyweight category final at the Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
As the new world flyweight champion's name was called out, Nikhat punched the air, hugged her opponent and broke into tears.
"It's finally here. The culmination of years of hard work and perseverance," she tweeted later.
"India, this one's for you. We did it, together."
The former junior world champion is the fifth Indian woman boxer after Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC to win a gold at the World Championships.
In 2019, when Nikhat asked for a fair trial against India's legendary boxer Kom after being denied a chance to compete in the trials for the Tokyo Olympics, the latter asked: "Who is Nikhat Zareen?"
Three years later, Nikhat is a world champion - winning India's first gold since Kom won it in 2018.
After her win last week, Nikhat told a news conference that she would dedicate the medal to all the countrymen who supported her throughout her career.
She also said it was her dream to trend on Twitter.
"Am I trending on Twitter? It was always my dream to be a trend on Twitter and to achieve something for my country at the world level is the biggest motivation."
The Muslim from a middle-class family in Telangana's Nizamabad town, said she had to overcome various challenges to carve out a niche for herself in boxing.
"I had to work hard and overcome hurdles including talk that boxing is not for women," she said.
"I had to tell people nothing would happen to my face and my beauty would remain intact.
"These very words challenged me and I wanted to go out there and prove that boxing doesn't care whether you are a man or woman. It's the desire and aspiration that matter.
"Boxing for me has more to do with the attitude and my sense of pride."
The conservative Muslim community to which they belong castigated both father and daughter when Nikhat took up boxing at age 13 in 2010, she said in a 2013 interview with The Times of India.
"In a Muslim family, they believe girls should not be given the liberty to go out," she said.
"Our relatives admonished my father, 'Where are you sending your young daughter?'"
But it did not stop Nikhat from pursuing her dreams. Only a year later, she won gold at the 2011 World Junior and Youth Championships for girls in Antalya, Turkey.
But life threw her a curve ball in the shape of a dislocated shoulder in 2018.
"I was disturbed because the shoulder is what makes or breaks a boxer," Nikhat told First Post.
"The power of a boxer's punches comes from the shoulders.
"It was very difficult for me because it was the first time I had suffered an injury of this magnitude."
After surgery and rehab - which included mental preparation for competing again - Nikhat was ready to enter the ring in 2019.
But another battle waited for her - this time with India's sports administration and Kom, whom Nikhat idolised.
While preparing for the World Championships in 2019, Nikhat found out that the Boxing Federation of India would not be holding trials to choose participants for the event, and had already chosen Kom to represent the country.
When Kom won a bronze at the World Championships, she automatically became the choice to represent India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A furious Nikhat wrote to the then sports minister Kiren Rijiju demanding a "trial" and "fair chance".
Although the minister chose not to involve himself in the matter, a trial was finally held and Kom defeated Nikhat 9-1.
After the bout, Kom reportedly did not even shake Nikhat's hands, as is customary.
Nikhat said later that she never knew she would have to compete against her idol one day.
Kom, a six-time world champion, congratulated Nikhat for her world title and Nikhat said she has forgiven the senior boxer.
"Thank you so much. It motivates me to work harder and make our country proud as you've done," Nikhat tweeted.
Nikhat's family is elated with her historic win.
"To win a gold in the world championships is something that will inspire Muslim girls as well as others in the country to aim high in life," Nikhat's father Jameel Ahmed told The Indian Express.
"Kids, both boys and girls, have to make their own way and Nikhat has paved her own way."
Indo-Asian News Service
"Am I trending on Twitter? It was always my dream to be a trend on Twitter and to achieve something for my country at the world level is the biggest motivation."
- Nikhat Zareen
