It was a memorable night for Indian judokas at the Commonwealth Games 2022. Vijay Kumar Yadav won the second medal for India at the event shortly after Sushila Devi Likmabam won the silver medal in the women’s 48 kg category. He won the bronze medal in the men’s 60 kg category by defeating Cyprus’ Petros Christodoulides.
The Indian judoka breezed through the match, slamming his opponent on the mat for 10 points in a move known as the Ippon. As a result, the referee ruled in Yadav’s favour, and the match was over in 48 seconds.
Vijay Kumar Yadav began his campaign with a 10-0 victory over Mauritian judoka Winsley Gengaya. However, he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Joshua Katz. Yadav’s journey did not end there, as he advanced to the repechage round for the bronze medal.
Vijay Kumar Yadav defeated Scotland’s Dylan Munro in the first match of the repechage round to advance to the bronze medal match against Petros Christodoulides.
Vijay Kumar Yadav won India’s eighth medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022, and he was only the second athlete from any sport other than weightlifting to finish on the podium in Birmingham. In fact, he became the second athlete after weightlifter Gururaja Poojary to win a bronze medal in Birmingham.
Earlier, Judoka Sushila Devi Likmabam won India’s seventh medal of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, as well as the first outside weightlifting medal. At the Games, she took silver in the women’s 48 kg category. In the final, she was defeated by South African Michaela Whitebooi.
This is her second Commonwealth Games silver medal. Sushila Devi, then 19, won silver in the same category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She is now the most successful Indian judoka in the event’s history, as well as the first Indian to win two medals at the quadrennial event.
