Commonwealth Games: A life that has never been easy is coated with silver, but Tulika Mann wants gold-Sports News , Firstpost

Commonwealth Games: Tulika Maan won a silver medal in judo. Image: SonyLiv

Birmingham: Tulika Mann has never had it easy. Not in life nor in the judo arena. Yet, sport has been the way out for her in every sense of the word. But she has now got used to hurdles, many of which don’t even come from her rivals.

Commonwealth Games: India schedule, Results, Medals tally

Tulika’s parents separated when she was barely four. She lost her father when she was barely six. She was brought up by a determined mother, Amrita, who still works in the Police, but made every sacrifice to ensure her daughter got all the opportunities.

She also kept her out of trouble. She often had to take her toddler to the police station because she did not anyone to take care of her. But Amrita did not want her daughter hanging around a police station, so she enrolled her into a judo academy.

It gave the mother some time and some peace, too. For Tulika it was to become a way life and soon she soon realised judo could be her passport to a life that could be more satisfying and fulfilling.

Amrita was never really interested in judo, but her Delhi home is a home for all judokas when they are in the capital.
She is happy to take care of them, but she does not want to be a part of the ‘judo talk’ because she is neither interested nor understands it.

Amrita took loans and even drew money from her Provident Fund to further her daughter’s career and left no stone unturned to help her judo career. She spent money for tours, travels and equipment. And also ran her home.

Once into the judo fold, Tulika, never a big one for academics, kept moving away from the books and towards the ‘dogi’, the traditional judo inform.

As Tulika grew up, she found in Yashpal Solanki a mentor and a coach, who then took her to Bhopal in the SAI Academy, when he shifted there. Her judo career seemed to take off soon after that.

After winning medals at junior and senior Nationals, Tulika’s first big event was the 2017 World Championships in Budapest. By 2018 she was good enough to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Championships in Jaipur and she had a bronze at Asian Open in Taipei.

READ: Silver medallist Tulika Maan shed 30 kg to make squad

Apart from participating in another Worlds in Tokyo, she retained the Commonwealth championships in Walsall in 2019. She also won the Gold Medal at the South Asian Games in 2019.

Competing in the heaviest category, there really was no weight limit for her, but that also became a problem as she went over 110 kg and it affected her agility in the bouts. Solanki and Tulika worked and lost around 20 kg, which made her movements much better. She wants to lose more weight and get better.

As for the Commonwealth Games, India had six quota places in judo. Somehow, despite Tulika’s success at Commonwealth Championships, her weight category +78 kg was not included by the powers that be. Tullika did not even get a trial from a federation, which was also sharply divided. Solanki, Jiwan Sharma, who is here with the team as the coach, fought and argued her case.

Ultimately she was given a trial during which she got the nod. But she had lost time and some exposure trips.

In Birmingham, Tulika beat Tracy Durhone of Mauritius by Ippon in the quarterfinal and then New Zealand’s Sydnee Andrews to get to the final, where she met Sarah Adlington of Scotland.

Tulika was happy to be in Birmingham, but deep down she nursed a Golden Dream. She expectedly made the final where she faced Sarah Adlington, a veteran almost 12 years older and winner of the gold medal when judo was last held at the CWG in Glasgow in 2014. Judo was included in 2018.

Two fouls early in the final put Tulika on the backfoot, but she kept fighting. She confessed that because of fouls she tried too hard and it backfired as Adlington won by an Ippon.

So upset was Tulika that she did not want to leave the mat. She had tears in her eyes as an official came up to her and then Jiwan Sharma led her off the mat. Wiping those tears she walked around the arenas.

When she met the media, her first comment was, “I am not satisfied. I came here to win a gold,” said Tulika. “Who knows what happens the next time I am competing in CWG. I have to change the colour of the medal.

“I am not going to rest till I get a gold,” added Tulika.

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