India's Suchika Tariyal assured India of its first medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games by beating Mongolia's Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 to enter the semi-finals of the women's Traditional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) 60kg event here on Sunday. A place in the last four guarantees a medal, with both losing semi-finalists receiving bronze.
The semi-finals at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre on Monday will give Tariyal a chance to turn her assured bronze into gold.
India is not often listed among the MMA powerhouses of the continent, but the 36-year-old Tariyal's historic achievement is expected to inspire more girls to enter the fighting arena in the coming years.
Ahead of her next bout, here are five things to know about Haryana-born Suchika Tariyal:
1. Hailing from Haryana's Rohtak, Tariyal grew up in a conservative household. Her family was initially hesitant to let a girl travel to take part in competitions away from home. However, she overcame many challenges to ensure her journey was not stopped midway.
2. Once she represented India in more than 20 international events and became an eight-time national champion, there was no turning back. She won gold at the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships and the 2019 South Asian Games, besides taking silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Judo Championships.
3. Suchika Tariyal represented India at several Asian Judo Championships and competed in the women's 57kg category at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she narrowly missed out on a podium finish.
4. Tariyal moved into jiu-jitsu and reached the top of that sport too, winning gold in the Adults Ju-Jitsu Contact Female 63kg category at the 2024 JJIF Ju-Jitsu World Championships. Her MMA journey had actually started much earlier, with a debut victory in 2017, but she then took a seven-year break while continuing to compete successfully in judo and jiu-jitsu. She returned to professional MMA in 2024, signing a multi-fight contract with the BRAVE Combat Federation in the women's strawweight division. She made her professional comeback at BRAVE CF 92 in Bahrain in December 2024 and won.
5. Interestingly, a 12-year-old Suchika decided that she should learn to defend herself after having a bad experience involving men. "I wanted to learn how to fight," the young girl said to herself after having to swallow the bitterness of eve-teasing at such a tender age. "I had a dream from childhood that I would learn some kind of fighting, so I chose judo. That journey has brought me here. It's like perfecting the base to go to the next level, and judo has helped me a lot with that," she told news agency PTI.
