Shushila Devi: Commonwealth Games double silver medallist, who sold her everything for judo

Indian judoka Shushila Devi Likmabam couldn't complete the task that was left eight years ago in Glasgow when the 27-year-old Manipuri lost her 48kg gold medal bout to South Africa's Michaela Whitebooi by a solitary point to claim the top honour in Birmingham on Monday.

The judoka still made the country proud as she won her second silver medal in eight years at the Commonwealth Games, which came after years of hard work and sacrifice. There also came a low point in her career, when she came close to quitting the game she loved the most and we take a peek into that as we glanced back at her career.

Who is Shushila Devi?

Born on 1 February, 1995 in Imphal, Shushila was attracted to judo from a young age as the game run in her family through uncle Dinik Singh, a former international-level judoka himself. Shushila, however, took the path towards martial art sports through her elder brother Shilakshi Singh, who took her along to the nearby Sports Authority of India centre in their hometown to learn judoka.

Sushila's keen interest in the game and her skills soon impressed the coaches, who sent her to the National Institute of Sports in Patiala to hone her skills further under the best coaches and players in the country.

Shushila admitted that when she moved to Patiala, she wasn't dreaming of international success or be an Olympian but watching the nation's top athletes, including her state-mate and icon Mary Kom, training with intent eventually rubbed off on her.

“At that time I never dreamt that I would be an Olympian or play at an international level. I just liked the sport. Patiala had top athletes from various disciplines and I used to see how they trained and practised. I used to look up to the likes of Mary Kom and the top judokas. I used to watch their practice sessions,” she told Sportstar.

Meeting coach Jiwan Sharma

The major turning point in her career turn out to be famed-judo coach and Dronacharya awardee Jiwan Sharma, who noticed the athlete's amazing willpower to never give up and the mentality to accept defeat and decided to take Shushila under his wings.

With further improvement in her game, she became the most dominant face in the 48kg category by winning all the national-level meet she participated in and tasted her first major international success at the age of 19 at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Following the success, she moved to JSW's Institute of Sports in Bellary to train and soon added another glory to her career in 2015 Junior Asian Championships. The medal had its significant importance as it came against the powerhouse nations of judoka.

Career-threatening injury

However, her career almost came to a halt in 2018 when a career-threatening hamstring injury put her out of the game for months ahead of the Asian Games trials.

“I was shattered. I felt my judo career was over. The goal was to qualify for the Asian Games and use that as a platform to prepare for the Olympics. I was heartbroken and went back home for three months to take a break,” she said.

Leaving behind the disappointment, she made a successful international return with consecutive silver in Hong Kong Open in 2018 and 2019.

Selling her car to fund travelling expenses

However, qualification for Tokyo Olympics was still difficult as competing in World Championships and Asian Championships alone is not enough and required competing in Grands Prix and Grand Slams throughout the year to make the cut. However, the judo federation provision didn't allow the judoka to participate in other events under government expenses, forcing her to sell off her car to fund her travelling and participation expenses, which ran close to half a lakh for each tournament.

“She was forced to use her own money to travel," said her brother Shilakshi. "She took many loans and even sold her car to fund her trips. Judo also does not have many sponsors because we have never won an Olympic medal. Each tour would cost at least Rs 50,000.”

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.