NEW DELHI: India's hopes of a second wrestling medal at the Paris Olympics took a major blow on Saturday after Reetika Hooda lost in the women's 76kg quarterfinal match against top seed Aiperi Medet Kyzy.
The 21-year-old U23 world champion put up a great fight against a Kyrgyzstan wrestler but the bout ended at a tied score of 1-1.
However despite a tied bout, Aiperi was adjudged winner, causing a heartbreak for Reetika.
So, why was Aiperi declared winner despite a 1-1 score-line?
According to the United World Wrestling (UWW) rules, in case of tied scores after a bout, the winner is decided on the basis of three criteria.
1- highest value of holds
2- least amount of cautions
3 - who scored the last technical point
In Reetika's case, the third rule came into play where the wrestler who scores the last point is declared winner.
In the tied contest, Reetika was the first one to gain a point after Aiperi was penalised for passivity.
Later in the bout, Aiperi equalized, gaining the score-levelling technical point and thus winning the contest by third criteria of the UWW rule.
The repechage route for Reetika was closed by American Kennedy Blades, who defeated the Kyrgyzstan wrestler Aiperi 8-6 in an energy-sapping semifinal.
Reetika's defeat means India's campaign at the Games ended with six medals - one short of its tally at the Tokyo edition.
