NEW DELHI: World under-23 champion Reetika Hooda relinquished a substantial advantage in the final against Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy to settle for a silver medal in the Asian wrestling championships in Amman, Jordan.
Reetika looked poised for a convincing victory leading 6-2 in her women’s freestyle 76kg championship match against Aiperi, but yielded four points in the final 10 seconds and finished second. The Kyrgyz opponent had defeated the Indian in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics last year.
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Earlier, Reetika had defeated South Korean Seoyeon Jeong 3-0 in the quarters and then accounted for Japan’s Nodoka Yamamoto by a 10-0 scoreline, securing a victory by fall in the semis.
Her teammates, Mansi Lather and Muskan, added to the country’s medal tally by winning a bronze each.
Mansi secured her first senior international medal after winning bronze in the 68kg division, following her triumph over Kazakhstan’s Irina Kazyulina 12-2 via technical superiority.
Mansi, a World under-17 champion, was awarded a victory by forfeit in her quarters when world 72kg champion and tournament favourite, Japan’s Ami Ishii, withdrew due to an injury.
Muskan (59kg) comfortably defeated Philippines’ Arian G Carpio in her qualification bout but lost her quarterfinal to Japan’s Sakura Onishi. Up against Mongolia’s Altjin Togtokh in the bronze playoff, Muskan gradually got a grip over the contest by sealing it 4-0.
Earlier, India concluded its campaign in the Greco-Roman division with two medals. Nitesh won the bronze on Thursday, following Sunil Kumar’s third-place finish in the continental meet. It was Nitesh’s first senior medal at the Asian level.
