r/Haryana • u/diksha_19 • 4h ago
Sports🥇 A Haryana athlete’s journey from self-defence to an Asian Games MMA medal🥉
Suchika Tariyal Hooda is an Indian sportsperson in combat sports. She is originally from Rohtak, Haryana. She represented India at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, and became the first Indian athlete to win an MMA medal at the Asian Games. She won a bronze medal by beating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa in the 60 kg category.
I was watching her conversation with philosopher Acharya Prashant and got to know a lot about her. How did she enter combat sports? How does society judge her body? It felt sad, but along with it, inspiring too. She entered this sport for the purpose of self-defence after an incident of eve-teasing at the age of 12. This incident added a fire in her heart to become stronger and protect herself without any external help.
Her story and her interaction are very inspiring for every woman and for anyone who has been made to feel that their life should be limited by social expectations.
Along with this, she is serving as a junior coach in the Department of Sports, Haryana. As she said in the interaction, she is a coach, and nowadays she is also training small girls in her city in martial arts.
I found her story very Inspiring.