Amman, Mar 28 (UNI) Reigning U23 world champion Reetika Hooda secured a silver medal in the women’s freestyle 76kg category at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2025 here on Friday.
Reetika, who clinched a bronze in the 2023 edition, suffered a narrow 7-6 defeat in the final against Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan. The Indian wrestler led 6-2 but allowed her opponent to stage a late comeback and snatch victory in the dying moments of the bout.
This marked Reetika’s second consecutive defeat to Kyzy at a major tournament, having previously lost to the Kyrgyz wrestler in the quarterfinals of the Paris 2024 Olympics on criteria after a 1-1 deadlock.
Earlier in the semifinals, Reetika overpowered Japan’s Nodoka Yamamoto by fall to assure herself of a second senior-level Asian Championships medal. In the quarterfinals, she registered a dominant 10-0 victory via technical superiority over Seoyeon Jeong of the Republic of Korea.
In other Indian performances, Muskan and Mansi Lather secured bronze medals in the women’s 59kg and 68kg categories, respectively.
Seventeen-year-old Muskan fell to Japan’s Sakura Onishi 12-2 in the quarter-finals but bounced back in the repechage round, defeating Mongolia’s Altjin Togtokh 4-0 to claim bronze.
Mansi Lather, 18, making her senior debut at the Asian Championships, triumphed over Kazakhstan’s Irina Kazyulina 12-2 in the bronze medal bout after suffering a semi-final loss to China’s eventual champion Zelu Li.
With these three medals, India’s tally at the Asian Wrestling Championships climbed to five. Greco-Roman wrestlers Nitesh (97kg) and Sunil Kumar (87kg) had earlier bagged bronze medals in the first two days of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Indian wrestlers Ankush (50kg) and Nishu (55kg) missed out on podium finishes. Ankush was outclassed by Japan’s gold medallist Remina Yoshimoto via technical superiority in the qualifying round and later withdrew from the repechage round due to injury. Nishu lost by fall to Mongolia’s Otgontuya Bayanmunkh in the bronze medal match after advancing through repechage rounds.
India’s Paris 2024 Olympian Antim Panghal (women’s 53kg) is set to compete on Friday.
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