India confirmed their fourth medal at the 2026 Asian Games, and a historic one at that, when Suchika Tariyal clinched a historic bronze in the women’s MMA -60kg semifinal. With MMA making its Asian Games debut, Suchika made up for Varun Sanyal’s disqualification less than 24 hours ago by first assuring India of a medal and then securing a third-place finish. However, the event turned bittersweet when Suchika, convinced that she had beaten Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo, struggled to come to terms with the 0-2 loss. Fiercely confident that she had progressed to the final, which would have assured her at least a silver medal, Suchika was left devastated when Hui Hoon was declared the winner of the bout.
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The closely fought bout ended in a draw after regulation time, with Teo mounting an attack in the final few seconds. Tariyal then managed to get her opponent down just as the buzzer went off. Even as the bout headed into overtime, the combatants matched each other blow for blow.
As soon as the final whistle blew, Suchika started fistpumping and even draped the Indian tricolour over her shoulders. But perhaps the final verdict reached her first, reducing her to an emotional wreck. Suchika initially refused to come up to the mat and hold the referee’s hand, even as the official repeatedly requested her to. At last, she reluctantly did so, but walked away mouthing her disappointment with the result.
Coach’s support little consolation
A distraught Suchika couldn’t believe what had transpired, and her disbelief soon gave way to tears rolling down her cheeks. Overcome with emotion, Suchika went down on her knees before being consoled by her coach. Still, there was little comfort.
Suchika comes from an interesting sporting background. A back-to-back bronze medallist at the Asian MMA Championships, she was, interestingly, a judoka before transitioning into MMA in 2017. The 36-year-old from Haryana took up combat sports after facing street harassment at 12 and went on to become a multi-discipline athlete, representing India in judo at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and in kurash at the 2023 Asian Games.
She had assured herself of a medal on Sunday by defeating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the quarterfinals to book her place in the last four. After Suchika, India added two more medals when shooters Rudrankksh Patil and Himanshu Dhillon clinched a bronze and silver, respectively, in the men’s 10m air rifle individual event.
