- Suchika Tariyal secured India’s historic MMA bronze medal.
- She questions the weight-based rule ending her semifinal bout.
- Tariyal felt she was winning, deserved an additional fight round.
- Despite this, she deeply values her hard-earned historic medal.
Suchika Tariyal returned to India with a historic Asian Games bronze medal, but the MMA fighter believes she could have gone further in Aichi-Nagoya. The 36-year-old has questioned the decision that ended her semifinal, saying weight-based rules denied her the opportunity to fight another round.
MMA made its Asian Games debut at Aichi-Nagoya, with Tariyal securing India’s first medal in the sport. She lost her semifinal to Singapore’s Tea Hui Hoon after the bout was declared a draw before the decision went against her.
Suchika Tariyal Questions Semifinal Decision
Speaking to PTI after arriving at IGI Airport on Thursday, Tariyal said she felt she had been ahead during the bout and wanted the contest to continue rather than be decided through the weight rule.
“I was clearly winning the bout, but it was declared a draw very strangely. Instead of (having) one more round, they applied these weird weight rules which virtually robbed me of my deserving gold medal,” she said.
Tariyal said she would have accepted the result had another round been held, regardless of its outcome. “Even if I had lost that round, I could have accepted it, but I could not accept what happened,” she said.
The Indian fighter also maintained that her performance during the bout gave her confidence that she could have reached the final. She pointed to her showing in the additional one-minute round as part of her argument.
“Even in the one-minute round, I was dominating her. She was running backwards, and I was on top of her,” Tariyal said.
‘I Am Not Saying That I Was Defeated Because Of Cheating’
Tariyal was careful to distinguish her criticism of the decision from an accusation of cheating. She said she did not believe she had simply been beaten by her opponent and questioned why the decision could not have gone in her favour after the bout was declared level.
“I am not saying it was cheating. If you are declaring the match a draw, you could have given me the win too,” she said.
Tariyal also claimed that the Singapore connection of the federation raised questions for her, while suggesting there may have been an international commitment behind the decision. Those claims were made by the fighter and were not established as fact.
Despite her disappointment, Tariyal said the bronze remained extremely valuable to her, given the work required to reach the podium at MMA’s first Asian Games appearance.
“Still, I am happy that I have won a bronze medal because it is more precious to me than my life. I have worked extremely hard for it,” she said.
With MMA currently absent from the Olympic programme, Tariyal is already looking towards her next target. She said she plans to prepare for the World Championship and continue competing in upcoming bouts.
“MMA can also potentially be part of the Olympics. It is not there at the moment, but it could be included in the future. I will continue with my preparation,” she added.
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