From gruelling train journeys to Asian bronze: Judoka Inunganbi breaks India’s 13-year drought

Inunganbi Takhellambam had to endure journeys that often stretched to three days without reservations when she competed at age-group national competitions more than a decade ago.

Hailing from Manipur, Inunganbi and other judokas from the state would first travel to Dimapur in Nagaland and then take a train to Kolkata. After changing trains there, they would continue to their destination — be it Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh or somewhere in the South — on a journey that often took another couple of days.

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“Sometimes we sat on the floor beside the washrooms for two or three days while travelling. Despite the arduous journeys and competing without a coach present, I always managed to bring home a medal — and that feeling was as good as winning a gold medal,” Inunganbi said during an interaction with TOI.

Those experiences proved enough motivation for her to keep pushing and last month she became the first Indian in 13 years to win a medal at the Asian Judo Championships, claiming bronze in Ordos City, China.

In the bronze-medal bout, Inunganbi defeated Mongolia’s Lkhagvadulam Sarantsetseg, and one of the first to congratulate her was Angom Anita Chanu, who had won bronze in the women’s -52 kg category at the Asian Championships in 2013.

While it wasn’t Inunganbi’s first international medal, she now has her sights firmly set on qualifying for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Her first coach Deven Moirangthem, however, wants her to aim for nothing less than an Olympic medal.

“When she first came to me in 2008, I was very impressed with her fearless attitude. She also had a lean physique that suited judo,” said Moirangthem, a close friend of her father, who gave her initial training at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal.

She moved to the National Sports Academy within a year and joined the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in 2014, after which she began competing regularly at the national level.

In 2017, she earned her first India call-up, being selected for the Asian Junior Judo Championships, marking her entry into international competition. It was the same year she joined the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS).

But a year later, she suffered a major setback after injuring her left knee, leaving her bedridden for months. “In 2018, I was physically very weak and unfamiliar with gym training, so rehabilitation took longer,” said the 27-year-old.

However, she returned stronger to win her first senior-level gold in 2022, and while national medals followed, an international title proved elusive until 2025, when she clinched gold at the Amman Asian Open.

Much of that progress has come with the support system at IIS. “Even before arriving here, I had already represented India internationally, but this is where I truly understood what elite preparation means,” said Inunganbi, who currently trains under Baye Diawara in Bellary.

Besides the coaches and support staff at the IIS, she also draws strong support from her parents and her husband, Olympian boxer Ashish Kumar Chaudhary, which hopefully will be enough to push her to the top in the coming days.



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