Suchika Tariyal secures India's first historic mixed martial arts medal
Fighter Suchika Tariyal cemented her place in sporting history by winning India’s first medal in mixed martial arts at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday. She secured a bronze in the women’s traditional 60kg event following a hard-fought 2-0 semifinal loss to Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo. Her podium finish comes at a time when mixed martial arts is rapidly gaining grassroots popularity across India.
Tariyal guaranteed her medal on Sunday after defeating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa. During that crucial match, Baigalmaa launched aggressive attacks in the second round. Tariyal maintained strong defense and executed a perfect takedown to control the remainder of the fight. She carried the hopes of the nation alone after her compatriot Varun Sanyal withdrew from his campaign for medical reasons.
Indian marksmen also delivered impressive results on Monday. Shooters Rudrankksh Patil, Parth Mane, and Himanshu Dhillon clinched silver in the men’s 10m air rifle team competition. They scored 1890.1 points to finish behind China, who took first place with 1899.0 points. South Korea claimed bronze with 1841.4 points. Individually, Patil and Dhillon qualified for the final by finishing third and seventh respectively.
Indian athletes recorded several other notable performances. Table tennis players blanked Pakistan 3-0 in their women’s team Group F match. Soft tennis duo Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena registered dominant victories, sweeping Cambodia's Viva Chao and Chanroseka Khun 5-0 before beating their Mongolian opponents. Furthermore, swimmer Srihari Nataraj successfully advanced to the men’s 50m backstroke final, while Nyeman Wangsu finished 15th in the women's Changquan wushu final.
With Inputs from Agency Threads and Image Courtesy: ANI
