“We are training for gold” - Judoka Tulika Maan eager to do well after a surprising Paris 2024 quota
On Tuesday, June 25, Indian judo athlete Tulika Maan secured her Paris Olympics 2024 quota as per the latest rankings updated by the International Judo Federation (IJF). She has been training for a gold medal from the mega event.
Tulika Maan (women’s +78kg category) admitted that she was not anticipating the quota as she expected Avtar Singh (100kg) and Vijay Yadav (60kg) to have better chances of making it to the Games.
“Judo has always been full of surprises and one never knows what would happen at any time. So one never knows what will happen that day. Look at how I made it to the Paris Olympics,” Tulika told SAI Media.
“But looking at my training, I am hoping, I will make it to the bronze medal match at least if not the final. We are training for gold,” she added.
For Judo, the Paris 2024 qualification period was set between June 22, 2022 and June 23, 2024.
“The journey has been exciting” - Tulika Maan
Though Tulika was not confident of her qualification, especially after suffering an injury in 2022, her win over Portuondo Isasi from Canada in the Round of 32 in the World Championships in Abu Dhabi in May 2024 helped her improve her Olympic ranking.
“The win in the World Championship helped me. The journey has been exciting. My coach (Yashpal Solanki) had drawn up a calendar of events to target, but the Olympics was not part of that,” she said.
Her fifth-place finishes in the Asian Games in 2023 and the Asian Championships in Hong Kong in April 2024 helped her accumulate a few important points in her rankings. She was ranked 36th with 1345 points.
“I won three bouts each in the Asian Games and the Asian Championship. Hong Kong is when I first thought maybe I could do it,” she said.
Furthermore, she emphasized that she had a few doubts about her Olympic quota after failing in the bout in two Grand Slam competitions in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Astana (Kazakhstan). Additionally, Tulika Maan feels Su Xin from China could be her toughest opponent at Paris 2024.