Olympics 2024 Wrestling: Reetika Hooda exits in the quarters, awaits repechage

Reetika Hooda was defeated in the women's 76kg category quarter-finals in wrestling, against world no.1 Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan, on Saturday.

The Indian now remains hopeful of a repechage round that will come into play if Aiperi advances to the final.

The 21-year-old went toe to toe with Aiperi and the bout ended 1-1, but Aiperi advanced to the semi-finals based on criteria, which states that in the event of a tie, the last player to get a point will win the bout.

The match started evenly with Reetika holding strong in defense and Aiperi trying to attack and soon enough, Aiperi was stuck with a passivity clock but a resilient defense from Reetika meant the Indian got the point and led 1-0 at halftime.

The second half was more of the same for the two wrestlers as they were relentless in defense and it was the Indian's turn to get hit with the passivity clock despite her best effort in trying to score from attack, the world no.1 held firm and got the passivity point.

With an advantage on her side, the Kazak managed the rest of the time and saw the match out, handing Reetika a quarter-final exit in her maiden Olympic campaign.

Reetika had initially defeated Nagy Bernadette of Hungary 12-2 in the first bout.