Ibrahim Moustafa 2023 wrestling: India’s Reetika wins bronze medal
The Indian wrestler defeated junior world championships silver medallist Lilly Schneider for the medal in the women’s 72kg category.
Wrestling
Young Indian wrestler Reetika won a bronze medal in the women’s 72kg category at the Ibrahim Moustafa 2023 wrestling ranking series in Alexandria, Egypt, on Saturday.
It was India’s second medal in this ranking series. On Friday, Greco-Roman wrestler Ankit Gulia clinched a bronze in men’s 72kg.
Reetika, who won gold at the U23 Asian championships and bronze at the junior world championships last year, got the better 2021 junior world championships silver medallist Lilly Schneider of Germany via technical superiority (10-0) in the bronze medal match.
Earlier, Reetika beat Uzbekistan’s Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist Svetlana Oknazarova 13-1 in the first round and handed Lilly Schneider a 10-0 defeat in her second bout to make the semi-finals.
However, Reetika was defeated by two-time European championships medallist and eventual champion Dalma Caneva of Italy by a fall (2-1) in the semis and made the bronze medal match.
The other three Indian wrestlers in action on Saturday could not win medals.
Asian championships bronze medallist Sushma Shokeen (women’s 55kg) pulled out of the competition at the last minute due to injury.
Simran, a Youth Olympic Games champion in 43kg, beat Alaa Abdelhalim Said Harhash of Egypt via technical superiority (12-0) in the 59kg quarter-final but lost on technical superiority (10-0) to world champion Anastasia Nichita of Moldova in the semi-finals. In the bronze medal match, Simran went down to two-time junior European champion Yuliia Leskovets of Ukraine by fall (4-0).
In women’s 65kg, Bhateri lost three of her four bouts and finished at the bottom among five competitors.
Bhateri defeated U20 world championships bronze medallist Khadija Jlassi of Tunisia 3-1 but lost her bouts to Tetiana Sova Rizhko of Ukraine (8-0), USA’s Emma Patricia Bruntil (5-2) and Ayatalla Magdy Mohamed Sadek Ahmed of Egypt (8-2).
The Ibrahim Moustafa 2023 wrestling ranking series will conclude on February 26. Men’s freestyle wrestlers will be in action on the final day of the competition.