Tulika Maan wins silver in Judo at Commonwealth Games 2022

The Indian judoka lost to Scotland's Sarah Adlington in the +78kg category.

Tulika’s silver in the women’s 78kg plus category makes her the third Indian judoka after Sushila Devi and Vijay Kumar Yadav to bag a judo medal in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. 

The second seed and the top seed took to the Tatami to fight for top honours. Both immediately went for each other’s elbows with good grips. The Scot attacked early and forced two shidos from Tulika in quick succession. A shido is a penalty handed for a period of no aggression. 

Tulika fought back with spirit, first using her balance to foil Sarah’s low attack with good waist control, handing her the opening waza-ari point. The second shido forced Tulika to be more aggressive. Sarah used this to her advantage, exhibiting her class by slamming the Indian on the floor to win gold by Ippon. 

Tulika lost to World number one Sarah Adlington

Tulika was devastated at the end but will take a lot of heart from her performances today. The top-seed and World number one Sarah Adlington was made to work hard for her victory, despite being two shidos up in just a minute and 47 seconds. 

Tulika started her run today by facing Tracy Durhone in the quarterfinals after receiving a bye in the Round of 16. She managed two Waza-aris, one at the 42 seconds mark and the other just before the three-minute mark. That combined with two Shidos for her opponent from Mauritius gave the Indian victory 10-0 by Ippon. 

Sydnee Andrews was Tulika’s semi-final opponent. The Kiwi began well, forcing a Waza-ari. The Indian was also given a warning for being passive (Shido) and faced a long road to recovery. However, Tulika remained unfazed and turned things around, launching a superb attack at the two-minute mark to win 10-0 by Ippon. 

Silver is an outstanding result for Indian Judo. The 23-year-old from New Delhi will cherish her medal, her previous achievements being a gold medal in the 2019 South Asian Games in Kathmandu and two golds in the Commonwealth Championships the same year. Tulika recently finished fifth in the Madrid European Open after a three-year gap.