Reetika Hooda scripted history at the U23 World
Wrestling Championships as she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win
gold in the event. The wrestler achieved the feat when she defeated former U20
world champion Kennedy Blades 9-2 in an enthralling 76kg final.
Entering the event, no Indian woman wrestler had won
gold in any of the categories and with tough competition from nations like United
States, Japan and Korea, it would have taken a gigantic effort from the female
athletes to break the norm.
Reetika re-wrote history books with her stupendous
feat on October 26. This is the biggest win of her career and is all the more
spectacular given that she recently shifted to the 76kg category, having spent
two years competing in the 72kg category.
The win tops her bronze medals achieved in the 72kg
event at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Wrestling Ranking Series in Egypt and the
Asian Wrestling Championships 2023.
Reetika hails from Rohtak and her father Jagbir Singh
is a farmer and mother Neelam is a housewife.
The match was an exciting affair with Blades, who
entered the clash as the favourite. She had to contend with a brilliant
counter-attacking play from Reetika.
From the beginning, Reetika worked hard to push Blades
out and lead 3-2 at the break, with two points won by a double-leg attack from
the American.
Blades came back from the break with a renewed goal of
attacking Reetika’s leg but the Haryanvi girl scored a couple of takedowns at
the end to clinch the gold medal.
Until 2023, Aman Sehrawat’s win remained Bharat’s only
gold medal at the event, with many other wrestlers like Ankush Panghal (women’s
50kg freestyle – silver 2022), Shivani Pawar (women’s 50kg freestyle – silver
2021), among others, having brought glory to the country.
Unfortunately, Bharat doesn’t feature in the medal
tally and Reetika’s historic win is listed under United World Wrestling as she
represents it.
The U23 World Wrestling Championships, ongoing in
Albania’s Tirana, is yearly event for athletes below 23 and held by the United
World Wrestling, the official governing body for amateur wrestling.
The 2023 event is the sixth edition of the tournament
and in the 2022 event, male wrestler Aman Sehrawat created history when he
became the first Indian to win gold after defeating Turkey’s Ahmat Duman in the
57kg category.
The Men’s Greco-Roman event is yet to take place and
provides an opportunity for Indians to shine.
Currently, the athletes listed under Individual
Neutral Athletes lead the medal table with 11 medals (five gold, two silver,
four bronze), and are followed by the US with eight medals (four gold, two
silver, two bronze) and Japan with six medals (two gold, three silver, one
bronze).
NE Watch Desk
