New Delhi, May 16 -- Nikhat Zareen has looked like a shadow of her feisty, skilful self in the ring over the last few years. Sharp counters, clean punching, nimble footwork, and the hunger to win once defined her game when she won back-to-back world titles in the Olympic flyweight division. She added speed to her boxing. Once she took on the mantle from MC Mary Kom, there was hardly any challenge left for her in domestic championships. However, that aura was stripped away at the selection trials for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games on Thursday. Nikhat crashed out in the semi-finals against Sakshi Chaudhary, who pulled off the biggest win of her career with a overwhelming 4-1 victory. A CWG gold medallist and an Asiad bronze medallist from 2023, Nikhat will miss both major events this year. More importantly, it leaves the future of 29-year-old Nikhat uncertain, as she has struggled to get back to her best especially after the setback at the Paris Olympics. The LA Olympics is still two years away but the first qualification event - World Championships in Kazakhstan - begins next year. Nikhat will have to regroup and come back. It will not be easy. This defeat will hurt. She has been dominating 51kg at home for four years and qualified for all major championships. At the Asian Championships, she secured bronze, but lost to her nemesis and Olympic champion Wu Yu in the semis. The Chinese beat her comprehensively at the Paris Olympics as well. The defeat shattered her. Nikhat took some time out of the ring to rebuild her confidence and fought her way back onto the national team, but she struggled to maintain the same consistency. Last year she returned without a medal from the World Championships, losing 0-5 to Turkey's Buse Naz Cakiroglu, an opponent Nikhat had beaten. The women's flyweight division will have a fresh face. Sakshi, who won the World Boxing Cup in Astana last year, will meet Minakshi Hooda in the final. Sakshi, a two-time world youth champion, has been a regular in the Indian team in 54kg but shifted a weight division below since Preeti Saipawar has already qualified in the bantamweight by winning gold at the Asian Championships. Minakshi, world champion in 48kg, has moved up to 51kg. She defeated former world champion Nitu Ghanghas to make it to the final....