Paris Olympics: Indian wrestler Reetika Hooda fails to enter semi-finals, yet she might compete for bronze. Here’s how

Indian grappler Reetika Hooda failed to qualify for the semi-final round in the Women 76kg Freestyle category at Paris Olympics 2024, after she was defeated by World Number one wrestler Aiperi Medet Kyzy from Kyrgyzstan in the quarterfinal. However, she may still get a chance to compete for bronze medal.

It may sound difficult to understand, but as per rules she may get the chance to compete for the bronze only if Kyrgyzstani wrestler Aiperi Medet Kyzy reaches final round.

So, if Aiperi Medet Kyzy reaches final round, Reetika Hooda will face Kyzy's semi-finalist's opponent.

In the first round, both the grapplers began aggressively against each other. Reetika Hooda led 1-0 in the first round after the 30-second timer rule went in India's favour.

However the second round, despite maintaining the lead, Kyzy tried to dominate over Reetika Hooda. Scores became level level 1-1, after the 30-second timer rule went in Kyrgyzstani wrestler Aiperi Medet Kyzy's favour. Since, Kyzy received the last point, she was declared the winner.

Earlier, in the round of 16, Reetika Hooda defeated her Hungarian opponent Bernadett Nagy in the Women 76kg Freestyle category at Paris Olympics 2024.

She dominated in the first round and scored 4 points, while Nagy managed to score 2 points.

However, in the second round, Reetika dominated from the beginning and took a lead of 12 points against Nagy, who managed to score 2 points. She defeated Hungarian wrestler Bernadett Nagy 10-2 by technical superiority.

Meanwhile, India secured its first bronze medal in wrestling on 9 August, as Aman Sehrawat (57kg) won bronze medal, beating Puerto Rico's Darian Cruz 13-5.

This was Sehrawat's first Olympics games, and ith Aman Sehrawat’s bronze medal, India continued to secure a medal in wrestling at every edition of the Olympic Games since 2008.

Currently, India have five bronze medals and a silver, which javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra bagged on Thursday

With agency inputs.