Indian wrestler Reetika Hooda will be battling for a medal in the 76kg category. Reetika’s father Jagbir Singh is a farmer and her mother Neelam is a homemaker, an official press release said. “My father took me to Chhotu Ram Akhada. I was asked to perform a particular bout by my coach Mandeep and he was happy with the way I performed, so they took me. Now wrestling is everything. I eat, sleep, dream about wrestling. I can’t think of anything else,” the Haryana-born wrestler was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Reetika Hooda became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the 2023 Under-23 World Championship. The 22-year-old had won a silver medal at the 2023 Ranking Series. She had also won a bronze medal in the women’s 72 kg freestyle category at the Asian Wrestling Championships held in Astana, Kazakhstan last year.

Age: 22

Ranking: Women’s Wrestling Seniors 76kg – 54

Sport/Discipline: Women’s wrestling 76kg

First Olympic Games: Paris 2024

Great performance

• 2024 Ranking Series, Polyak Imre & Vargo Janos Memorial – Silver Medal
• 2023, 2022 U23 World Championship – Gold Medal
• 2023 Ranking Series, KU Kozhomkul & R. Sanatbaev – Silver Medal
• 2023 Senior Asian Championship – Bronze Medal
• 2023 Ranking Series, Ibrahim Moustafa – Bronze Medal
• 2022 U20 World Championship – Bronze Medal

Paris Olympic Games Qualification

Reetika Hooda became the first Indian woman to qualify for the 76kg heavyweight wrestling category at the Olympics. She had earned the spot in the women’s 76kg at the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan earlier this year in April.

Recent performances

In one of her last performances, Reetika Hooda won a silver medal in the women’s 76kg category at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial 2024 wrestling tournament held in Budapest, Hungary last month. The Indian wrestler won three of her four bouts to claim the silver medal.

Date of the event