Geetika Jakhar rolls back the years on the wrestling mat

Geetika Jakhar pictured with Goldie Behl and Yogeshwar Dutt

Geetika Jakhar is no stranger when it comes to pressure situations. One of the most experienced wrestlers in the circuit, she showed great courage and determination to come back and win a thrilling bout in her team Haryana Hammers' matchup against the Bengaluru Royals.

Her win enabled her team to extend their lead and eventually win the tie 4-3 to make it two wins out of two for the Hammers.

The 30-year old is a seasoned campaigner and has won medals galore for the country. Her first medal at senior level came in 2002, as she clinched a gold medal in the National Games and this is just the start of it.

She has won medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games along with world championships at Asian and Commonwealth level over the past decade.

Her stunning comeback against Navjot Kaur of the Bengaluru Yodhas in the 69kg Freestyle category was a display of tenacity and perseverance as she claimed victory in the dying seconds of the bout to help her team secure the much-needed win.

In the first round, there was not much to wow the crowd as both wrestlers grappled with each other using all their might. Both stood their ground well and managed to ward off any advances by their opponent.

It was Jakhar who went into the second round in the lead as she was awarded a solitary point due to Kaur getting penalized. In the second round, it was 1-1 after it was Jakhar’s turn to pay the penalty for passive play.

Halfway through the second round, Kaur finally found a way through and downed her rival to gain two points and lead the bout 3-1.

She showed some terrific defense once again as she thwarted Jakhar’s attacks and looked all set to take the victory. But with just four seconds of the six minutes left, Jakhar had the final say as she took Kaur down with a waist grab and added two points to her tally to end the bout at 3-3.

She was awarded the win by virtue of winning the last points, as she showed some superb composure to wait for the right moment to strike.

At the post-match press conference, the Agroha-born veteran rubbished any questions about her retirement as she stated that she will wrestle as long as her body allows her to.

She cited an example from 2010 when she suffered a potential career-threatening injury, but she bounced back from it to win podium places at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

Jakhar also stated that she was always confident that she would come back into the match and waiting for the last moment was a part of her strategy. She said that she had been in such sticky situations before in her career as well and she drew wisdom from those experiences to wait for the correct time to pounce and stun her opponent.