Asian Games 2026: Suchika Tariyal wins India's first historic MMA bronze
Suchika Tariyal, 36, claimed India's maiden Asian Games MMA medal, losing a bodyweight tiebreak by 700 grams in the semifinal.
India won its first ever Asian Games medal in mixed martial arts (MMA) at the 2026 Games. The feat was achieved by 36-year-old fighter Suchika Tariyal, who claimed bronze in the women's traditional 60 kg category. The bout was gripping and dramatic from start to finish.
In the semifinal, Suchika faced Singapore's Teo Hui Hoon. She fought with everything she had and the contest went into extra time. In the end, the decision went in favour of the Singaporean fighter. As soon as the result was announced, an emotional Suchika could not hold back her tears as she left the ring.
Interestingly, the bout was decided by a panel of 10 judges instead of the usual three. Even after closely reviewing all the footage, the judges could not declare a winner, and the match was officially left tied. Under the rules, in such a situation the fighters' body weight is used as the deciding factor. This was the turning point that ended Suchika's hopes of reaching the final, as her weight was found to be 700 grams more than her Singaporean rival Teo Hui Hoon. That 700 gram difference flipped the entire result and knocked Suchika out of the race for the final.
After the decision, when the judges called both fighters up for the official winner announcement, a disappointed Suchika was initially reluctant to go on stage. She went up only after the Indian coach persuaded her, but returned with tears in her eyes. Earlier, on Sunday, Suchika had sealed India's medal by beating Mongolia's Altankhimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the quarterfinal.
Suchika Tariyal, from Rohtak in Haryana, has an inspiring story. After facing sexual harassment at the age of just 12, she took up judo for self-defence. Since then she has never looked back, representing the country in more than 20 international competitions. Suchika is an eight-time national judo champion. She won gold at the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championship and the 2019 South Asian Games. At the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, she put up a strong performance in the 57 kg category but narrowly missed out on a medal. Apart from sport, Suchika has served as a head constable in the CISF and later worked as a junior coach with the Haryana sports department.
Suchika made her MMA debut in 2017. She then took a break of about seven years from MMA, during which she represented India in judo and jiu-jitsu. In 2024, she signed with the Brave Combat Federation. She then made a strong comeback in the professional MMA ring at Brave CF 92 in Bahrain in December 2024.
