There are moments in a sportsperson’s career that are important simply because of what their score says; then there are those whose backstory of hope is worth listening to.One such deeply inspiring story is about Suchika Tariyal’s bronze medal at the Asian Games 2026. On the very first day of the Games, the 36-year-old stepped into a sport making its Asian Games debut and clinched a piece of history for India, defeating a Mongolian participant 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the women’s traditional 60kg mixed martial arts category.
Meet Suchika Tariyal, who bounced back stronger at 36 after hitting rock bottom and won a silver for India at the Asian Games 2026
Suchika Tariyal has given India a historic moment at the Asian Games 2026. On Day 1 of the competition, the 36-year-old secured a bronze medal in mixed martial arts by defeating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the women’s traditional 60kg category, which is also MMA’s very first appearance at the Asian Games, held this year in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.What makes this win particularly interesting is the tumultuous road that led here. Tariyal was not an MMA fighter at all; she was a judo player for years, representing India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and later at the 2023 Asian Games in kurash, in a traditional form of jacket wrestling. Later, a knee injury, along with a tough stretch in her personal life, pushed her away from the sport she had loved. At one point, she had essentially decided to walk away from competitive sport altogether.
How did she come back to her sporting journey?
It took two people from India’s MMA circle to change that. UFC fighter Pooja Tomar and former ONE Championship fighter Himanshu Kaushik convinced her to give the sport another shot. “I had given up. I thought, ‘Alright, it’s fine, it’s done, this is enough,'” Tariyal said, according to Hindustan Times. “Then Pooja and Himanshu forced me to try it once, saying that my skills were good and I would pick it up quickly. These two are the ones who brought me into MMA,” she added.Her way to Asian Games 2026 was full of ups and downs. She had been a Jiu-Jitsu World Champion in 2024 and was preparing along that path, but in January, the jiu-jitsu team for the 2026 Asian Games was dropped, and the format changed, suddenly ending the path she’d been training for. She came back stronger, this time trying out for MMA, and her decision has now paid off with a medal.
Tariyal was harassed as a child
Tariyal has also spoken about a difficult childhood experience that influenced her early relationship with trusting people. She recalled being harassed while getting a haircut as a child, which left a lasting mark. “As a child, you don’t understand what is happening. I went into depression, and I developed a hatred towards men,” she said, according to Hindustan Times.That mistrust, she has said, lasted well into adulthood, until she met her husband, Kapil, whom she married in her thirties. “I got married in my 30s, only after meeting Kapil, because I had never met a man like him before,” she said. She added that her mother had once doubted whether she would ever marry at all, given how deeply she distrusted men. Of Kapil, she said, “His trust in me makes me feel that if I had gotten all this support earlier, I could have done even better.“