Delhi: The IG Stadium, over the last year, has turned into a base location for all the Indian women’s national camps. On Tuesday, selected wrestlers went through the grind of the .Reetika Hooda, going through the paces at the national camp, watched on.
She did not have to go through the trials herself.
A silver medal at the Asian Championships had earned Reetika a in the Indian team for the UWW Ranking series in Mongolia, which is to be held later this month.
And it is a tournament that she is looking forward to.
A consistent grappler
Reetika, who represented India at the 2024 Paris Olympics last year, has been one of India’s most consistent grapplers over the last two years. Even as controversies gripped the sport on the sidelines, she stayed true to her craft.
She had a good start to the 2025 season, clinching a in women’s 76kg at the Asian Wrestling Championships earlier this year.
Using that result, Reetika seeks to up the ante and gather momentum at the national camp for the tough battles that lie ahead. However, she feels that the national camps conducted in Lucknow were much better, with easier accessibility to mats and gyms from the hostel that was provided to the wrestlers.
“Our training here [Delhi] is going good. We are working on stamina and speed, but the problem is our gym is at a different place and the mat is at a different place, so traveling has become an issue,” Reetika said in a conversation with The Bridge.
“Those who were part of the Lucknow camp, they feel it was better as there were better facilities, and the hostel and the stadium were nearby to each other. We also had a gym near the mat only,” she added.
Incidentally, the camps were previously held in Lucknow, which made news for all the wrong reasons during the wrestlers’ protests against the then Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
But the camp at an unfavorable location is the last thing on her mind. Her opponents are.
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Aiperi, a tough nut to crack
At the 2025 Asian Championships, Reetika was within touching distance of a first-ever gold medal at the continental championships, but lost out to the renowned Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan.
“Asian Championships we a good experience. I won the quarterfinal and semi-final, but again the final was against Aiperi, and this time I was very much prepared and was fully ready to win,” she said.
“I almost took the gold medal at the Asian, but then I gave it away myself in the final seconds. It felt like I was telling her, ‘le behen tu leja‘ (you take this sister),” a disheartened Reetika further recalled.
This was Reetika’s second consecutive defeat against Aiperi after the quarter-finals at the Paris Olympics, where the Indian had again lost a close match bout with the scores reading 1-1.
“Now we are preparing for our next meeting, and working on my ground play as it is a bit weak. We had worked on it prior, but it wasn’t enough, and Aiperi’s experience helped her to win,” she said.
Reetika was in better shape at the Asian Championships. She has improved her attacks and didn’t make the same mistake of not making the attack on Aiperi at the Olympics. She, however, still lost (6-7) closely.
“At the Asian Championships, my power and strength were much better compared to the Olympics, and I attacked better here. Even defensively, I didn’t lose a single point on ground shots in the first round,” she reflected on the changes and improvements she is making.
Reetika will now compete in her first ranking round tournament of the year in Mongolia, where not only the Asians but the wrestlers from across the world will challenge her.
Her main focus, however, remains the World Wrestling Championships, which will be held in Zagreb, Croatia in September.
For that, she will need to overcome an Aiperi Medet Kyzy-sized challenge.