The young Indian women’s freestyle wrestling contingent had a good outing at the Asian Wrestling Championships as four Indian wrestlers made it to the medal matches in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday.

Paris Olympian Reetika Hooda was the star of the day as she booked her spot in the final of the women’s 76 kg category. She is the first Indian wrestler to compete for the title at this event.

Nishu (55 Kg), Muskan (59 Kg), and Mansi Lather (68 Kg) will also fight for a medal in their respective bronze medal matches on Thursday.

Reetika to fight for Gold

Reetika started the day with a technical superiority (10-0) win against Seoyeon Jeong of South Korea and then followed it with a pin-fall win against Japan’s Nodoka Yamamoto in the semi-final.

She will take on the two-time Asian champion, Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan, in the final. This will also be a rematch of their fierce bout from the Paris Olympics, where Aiperi edged past the Indian youngster.

The reigning U17 world champion, Mansi Lather, was the second Indian wrestler to reach the semifinal on Thursday. She took a 10-0 win over Sheng Fang Cai of Chinese Taipei and then had a walkover in the quarterfinal.

In the semi-final, Mansi tried hard but had no answers to the physical gameplay of Chinese wrestler Zelu Li. She will now fight for the bronze medal against the Kazakhstan wrestler, Irini Kazyluina.

Nishu (55 Kg) and Muskan (59 Kg) also booked their spot in the bronze medal match via repechage. Both wrestlers will compete against the Mongolian wrestler for the bronze medal.