Shushila Devi Likambam won India’s first medal in judo at the 2022 Commonwealth Games after claiming silver in the women’s 48kg event. This is Shushila’s second Commonwealth Games medal after she won silver at the 2014 Glasgow Games.
In a tightly-contested bout, South Africa’s Michaela Whitebooi won the bout via Waza-Ari after both judokas were inseparable at the end of regulation time. Shushila’s medal is India’s sevent in Birmingham.
Vijay Kumar Yadav won India’s second judo medal in Birmingham after beating Cyprus’ Petros Christodoulides in the men’s 60kg bronze medal match.
Shushila took up judo at the insistence of her uncle Dinik Singh who was an international judoka himself.
A Tokyo Olympian, Shushila had won silver at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games but nearly quit the sport in 2018 after a hamstring injury sidelined her for close to seven months. However, she was convinced to continue by her coach Jiwan Sharma.
The Manipuri staged a comeback in 2018 winning back-to-back silver medals at the 2018 and 2019 Hong Kong Open before becoming India’s sole judoka at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.