Shushila Devi Likmabam clinched a silver medal in the women's 48kg judo event, losing to Michaela Whitebooi of South Africa by golden score in the final. This is her second CWG medal after the silver medal she won at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. It was also India's seventh medal of the Games, but the first outside the six earned in weightlifting so far.
Vijay Kumar Yadav earned India's eighth medal of CWG 2022, with a bronze in the men's 60kg division. Jasleen Singh Saini lost his bronze medal bout in the men's 66kg category, with Suchika Tariyal also losing out on the women's 57kg bronze as well.
Shushila started off on the backfoot, with and early shido (penatly) but recovered soon after, forcing Whitebooi into a penalty as well. Both finalists were circumspect throughout, earning another penalty each as the bout progressed into the final minutes.
The bout moved into golden score, and within seconds Whitebooi was able to execute a dynamic throw over Shushila to score a point (waza-ari) and thus win the gold medal.
Earlier, in the semifinal, Shushila defeated African champion Priscilla Morand of Mauritius by ippon. Her first match was a quarterfinal affair with Harriet Bonface of Malawi and she defeated her by ippon as well.
Ippon is a move in which a contestant throws the opponent to the mat with "considerable force and speed" so that the opponent lands on the back. An ippon is also awarded when a contestant immobilises their opponent with a grappling hold-down for 20 seconds, or when an opponent gives up.
India were involved in three bronze medal bouts of Judo action:
Vijay Kumar Yadav defeated Petros Christodoulides of Cyprus (Men's 60kg) - Ippon
Both judokas were sparring in the early stages for grips specific to their style and preference. Yadav then executed an ippon with 58 seconds on the clock to win the bout and seal his bronze.
Jasleen Singh Saini lost to Nathan Katz of Australia (Men's 66kg) - Ippon
Despite Saini controlling the majority of the bout, forcing Katz into penalties, the Indian lost after his Australian opponent executed an ippon, throwing him to the floor with only six seconds of the bout left.
Suchika Tariyal against Christianne Legentil of Mauritius (Women's 57kg) - Waza-ari
In a fairly even bout, Suchika led her opponent by a penalty point, but a bit of hesitation allowed Legentil to execute a waza-ari with eleven seconds to go. The Mauritian closed out the bout to confirm her bronze medal, leaving her Indian opponent disappointed.
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Shushila, who hails from Manipur, qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as the lone representative from India in judo. She was eliminated in the first round.
She comes from a family of judokas. Her uncle Dinik Singh in a former international player and current coach who inspired her to take up the sport. Shushila pursued the sport after enrolling in the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Imphal centre along with her brother Shilakshi Singh. After impressing in Imphal, she went to National Centre of Excellence in Patiala and that's when she decided to pursue it professionally.