Budapest (Hungary): Indian wrestler Reetika Hooda bagged a silver medal in the women's 76kg category at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial 2024 wrestling tournament in Budapest, Hungary.
With less than six competitors in the women's 76kg weight category, the Nordic system was followed. In this system, the competing grapplers faced each other in a round-robin format.
U23 world champion Reetika won three of her four bouts. She fell short against World Championships bronze medallist Tatiana Renteria of Colombia. The Colombian wrestler went on to take away the gold medal in Budapest. While Genesis Reasco Valdez of Ecuador settled for a bronze.
Reetika's success marked the fourth medal for India in the Budapest wrestling ranking series. Before her, Aman Sehrawat won a silver in men's 57kg freestyle while Antim Panghal and Anshu Malik won silver medals in women's 53kg and 57kg weight classes, respectively. Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat was the only Indian to return empty-handed.
Reetika began her campaign with a comfortable 8-0 triumph over former world champion Justina Di Stasio of Canada. In her second bout, she suffered a 2-3 loss to Tatiana Renteria. Despite leading for most of the bout, she ended up conceding in the closing stages.