Budapest Ranking Series 2024: Reetika Hooda grabs India’s fourth silver medal in the campaign
Indian wrestler Reetika Hooda, hailing from Rohtak, Haryana, secured the silver medal in the women’s 76kg category in the Budapest Ranking Series on June 8, Saturday. Notably, Reetika clinched the Paris Olympics 2024 quota in the recent Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek.
The 22-year-old grappler secured a win over Genesis Reasco from Ecuador in the ¾ matches. However, she missed out on grabbing the gold medal as she suffered a 2-3 loss against Tatiana Renteria from Colombia.
Interestingly, the Asian Championship bronze medallist defeated three wrestlers who are all set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Women wrestlers in the Budapest Ranking Series secured two more silver medals
On June 7, Friday, Indian grapplers Anshu Malik and Antim Panghal secured silver medals in the women’s 53kg and 57kg categories respectively. Notably, both wrestlers will be a part of the Indian contingent for Paris Olympics 2024.
Anshu suffered a 1-2 defeat to Hong Kexin of China in the final while Antim went down to Sweden's Jonna Malmgren.
Notably, Antim was returning to the mat after a long time and impressed in the campaign, defeating Uzbekistan’s Sakbjamal Esbosynova 10-0 and Poland’s Katarzyna Krawczyk, a 2021 Worlds bronze medallist, 3-1 to advance to the final.
On the other hand, Anshu defeated Moldova’s world silver medallist Anastasia Nichita 6-5 and 59kg World and Asian champion Qi Zhang of China 2-1 to make it to the final bout.
Meanwhile, Vinesh Phogat competed in the women’s 50 kg weight category and suffered a 0-5 defeat against Jiang Zhu of China in the quarter-final and also failed to make it to the repechage rounds.
At the Budapest Ranking Series 2024, India bagged three silver medals. Earlier on Day 1, Aman Sehrawat had bagged the silver medal in the men’s 57 kg freestyle event. India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers were not part of the event.
Budapest Ranking Series 2024: Indian medallists
Men’s 57kg freestyle: Aman Sehrawat - silver medal
Women’s 53kg: Antim Panghal - silver medal
Women’s 57kg: Anshu Malik - silver medal
Women’s 76kg: Reetika Hooda - silver medal