Tulika Maan looked utterly devastated at the end of it all, but she had done enough on the day to win India’s second silver medal in judo at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.
The Indian lost the final bout of the women’s 78kg Judo event to Scotland’s Sarah Adlington, securing another medal for India’s tally. The only athlete better than her on the day was the veteran top seed and former gold medallist.
The 23-year-old from Delhi put up a fighting performance in the final, leading for part of the bout on Waza-Ari, playing the counter attack really well. But Adlington went for a gutsy move that finished with the Indian on the floor. The Ippon decision ended the contest in favour of the Scot.
Maan’s silver was India’s third in the Judo event after Shushila Devi Likmabam and Vijay Kumar won silver in the women’s 48kg and bronze in the men’s 60kg events respectively.
She started off her campaign on Wednesday by beating Mauritian Tracy Durhone in the opening bout before beating talented youngster Sydnee Andrews of New Zealand in the semifinals.
Understandably, especially so since she led in the final, Maan was disappointed and emotional after the bout.
“I did not come here for silver, but for the gold, so I got emotional. I will get another opportunity to win the gold after four years, but I wanted gold this time,” she later said, as reported by PTI.
The emotions were evident at the end of the weight as she trudged ever so slowly across the tatami before hugging her opponent in tears.
#Judo federation initially dropped Tulika Maan from #CWG squad. She was included last min. She won a 🥈https://t.co/Zs0njvEnle#Athletics fed dropped @TejaswinShankar from the squad. He sought court's intervention, got included & won a 🥉#apathyhttps://t.co/pOdtL1dScm
— Mihir Vasavda (@mihirsv) August 4, 2022