Commonwealth Games 2026: All you need to know about Tulika Maan

The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Tulika Maan is now one of the most established name in the Indian sporting map as far as judo is concerned.

The 27-year-old from Delhi even competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics and was the only Indian judoka to qualify for the Games.

Maan arrives in Glasgow for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, determined to go one better than Birmingham and finally get her hands on gold in the women's +78kg category.

Early days

Born on September 9, 1998, in New Delhi, Maan's childhood was shaped by hardship long before it was shaped by judo. Her father passed away when she was barely two years old, leaving her mother, a Delhi Police constable, to raise her alone.

Every morning, her mother would ride her twenty kilometres to school on a scooter before heading to her police station, a routine Maan has often credited as the foundation of her own discipline.

A self-described tomboy who preferred football with the boys in her neighbourhood, Maan took up judo at the age of eight, training initially under coach Sangeeta Dutta in Delhi before her talent was spotted for more structured development.

She was not a natural student and told her mother after her class 10 board exams that she wanted to pursue judo full-time rather than continue in the classroom, a decision that would go on to define her life.

Rising through the ranks

In 2016, Maan was admitted to the Sports Authority of India's National Centre of Excellence in Bhopal, where she began training under coach Yashpal Solanki, a former India international and Arjuna Award winner.

Her junior years brought early international exposure, including bronze medals at the Asian Junior Championships in both 2017 and 2018, as she steadily built her case among India's heavyweight judokas.

Maan was initially left out of the squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games without explanation from the Judo Federation of India, prompting her to write directly to the federation to make her case.

The breakthrough

Included in the squad after her appeal, Maan delivered a career-defining performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, storming to the final of the women's +78kg category before settling for silver.

The medal instantly made her one of the most recognisable names in Indian judo and set up a run that would eventually take her all the way to the Olympics.

Her road to Paris 2024 was unexpected even to her. Recovering from injury, Maan posted fifth-place finishes at the 2023 Asian Games and the 2024 Asian Championships before beating Canada's Portuondo Isasi at the 2024 World Championships in Abu Dhabi, a result that pushed her Olympic ranking to 36th and secured India's lone continental quota spot in judo ahead of more fancied compatriot Avtar Singh.

Overcoming setbacks

Paris 2024 turned into one of the toughest days of Maan's career. She was beaten by four-time Olympic medallist Idalys Ortiz of Cuba in just 28 seconds in the round of 32, an ippon defeat that left her shaken.

By her own admission, she did not step out of her room or eat properly for days after the loss, leaning on her mother and friends in Delhi to help her recover mentally over the following months.

True to the resilience that has defined her career, Maan bounced back with gold at the National Games in Uttarakhand in February 2025, defeating Punjab's Rajwinder Kaur in the final, before going on to compete at the 2025 World Championships and the 2026 Asian Championships.