Geetika enters final, assures India medal in women wrestling

Doha, Dec 11 (UNI) Geetika Jhakhar gave an excellent display of technical grappling as she assured India a medal by storming into the finals of the Women's 63 kg category of the Free style wrestling event at the Asian Games here today.

The 21-year-old Delhi-based wrestler overpowered Kim Hee Jeong of Korea 3-1 and then accounted for Mongolia's Odonchimeg Badrakh 3-0 in the semi-final.

Geetika dominated both the bouts with her superior skill and technique and her rivals could not grapple with her on equal terms.

The quarter-final bout saw Geetika defend herself well while managing two technical points as against one by Kim hee Jeong.

Later, the Indian displayed cool temperament against the Mongol in the semi-final, which she won by earning two technical points while her rival failed to score any.

Among the other Indians in the fray, Alka Tomar lost her 55 kg bout to Japan's Saori Yoshida 0-3 but the Indian will still get to fight for a bronze after getting a bye in the previous round. Alka will take on China's Su Lihui in the bronze medal fight.

Another Indian, Sonika made a good start winning the 72 kg quarter-final bout against Vietnam's Quyen Thi Ludong 3-1 but lost her semi-final fight against China's Wang Xu 0-3 .

Sonika will battle it out with Kyrgyzstan's Iansa Panova for the bronze.

''This was my first bout. The match was very tight, I hope I can get a medal here,'' Sonika said after the bout.

The fourth Indian in the fray, 23-year-old Neha was comprehensively beaten by China's Li Xiaomei 3-1 in the 48 kg Freestyle bout.

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