Sushila Devi Likmabam is a judoka from India who competes in the 48 kg weight division at international competitions. She most recently participated in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, where she won the silver medal. She was India’s lone athlete to qualify in Judo for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

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Sushila Devi was born on February 1st, 1995 in Manipur, India. She only began Judo at the age of 8. Devi was motivated to learn judo by her uncle Likambam Dinit, a former international judo player. Her older brother, who also trained with her, and she used to travel the 30-minute distance to go to the judo academy.

Later, she attended Sports Authority Centre (SAI) under the direction of Sabitri Chanu to receive professional training in the sport.

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She made her international debut at the 2010 Commonwealth Junior Championship, where she won her first gold medal in the 48 kg weight division. She then relocated to Patiala’s Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports for further training. From 2010 to 2017, she began her training while under Jiwan Sharma’s direction.

The 27-year-old is a silver medal-winner in the 48kg weight class in judo at the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow.
Shushila took home the silver medal at the Asian Open in Hong Kong in 2019. She also won the gold medal in the 2019 South Asian Games.

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She joined the Manipur Police in 2017.  Despite missing numerous qualifying competitions, she was still able to meet the requirements for the continental quota and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, serving as India’s lone Judo participant. 

Devi won India’s first medal outside of weightlifting and its seventh overall at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. At the Games, she took home the silver medal in the women’s 48 kg division. She lost in the finale to South African judoka Michaela Whitebooi

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The final turned out to be a back-and-forth contest with neither giving an inch until the final buzzer. Both judokas failed to score a single point at the end of regulation time. The competition then entered a golden score period, where the South African judoka won a point by pinning Sushila Devi’s soulders to the ground, securing the gold medal.