The 21-year-old Reetika clinched bronze in the women's 72kg division at the Ibrahim Moustafa 2023, the second ranking series.
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The 21-year-old Reetika clinched bronze in the women’s 72kg division at the Ibrahim Moustafa 2023 wrestling ranking series in Alexandria, Egypt. In this ranking series, it was India’s second medal. Earlier, Ankit Gulia, a Greco-Roman wrestler, won the bronze medal in the men’s 72 kg category on Friday. Reetika defeated Germany’s Lilly Schneider, the silver medalist from the 2021 Junior World Championships, with technical superiority (10-0) in the bronze medal encounter. She previously earned the gold medal at the U23 Asian Championships and bronze at the Junior World Championships. Reetika advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Uzbekistan’s Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist Svetlana Oknazarova 13-1 in the first round and Lilly Schneider 10-0 in the Round three.
Reetika advanced to the bronze medal match but lost to eventual champion Dalma Caneva of Italy, a two-time medalist at the European Championships, via fall (2-1). Sushma Shokeen (women’s 55kg), who finished third in the Asian Championships, withdrew from the match at the last minute due to an injury. Simran, who won the 43 kg division in the Youth Olympic Games, defeated Egypt’s Alaa Abdelhalim Said Harhash by a score of 12-0 in the 59 kg quarterfinal. However, she fell to the world champion Anastasia Nichita of Moldova by a score of 10-0 in the semis. Yuliia Leskovets of Ukraine, a two-time junior European champion, defeated Simran by fall in the bronze medal match (4-0).
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Another wrestler Bhateri placed last out of five contestants in the 65kg women’s division after losing three of her four fights. Bhateri upset Tunisian U20 world champion Khadija Jlassi 3-1. However, she lost against Ukraine’s Tetiana Sova Rizhko by 8-0, the United States’ Emma Patricia Bruntil by 5-2, and Egypt’s Ayatalla Magdy Mohamed Sadek Ahmed by 8-2.
Read more: Ibrahim Moustafa 2023: Ankit Gulia wins India’s first medal
The men’s freestyle wrestlers will be seen in action at the concluding day of second ranking series in the United World Wrestling (UWW) calendar. The Ibrahim Moustafa wrestling competition in Alexandria, Egypt, kicked off on February 23 and will end on February 26. The first ranking series took place earlier in the month from February 1 to 5, 2023, in Zagreb, Croatia. Due to the absence of elite wrestlers like Bajrang Punia, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Vinesh Phogat, Deepak Punia, Anshu Malik, Sangeeta Phogat, and Sangita Mor from the competition in Egypt, India fielded a second-string team for the second consecutive tournament.
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