New Delhi: Asmita Dey’s judo gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games was the breakthrough India had been waiting for years. The 2026 CWG marked the fifth time the martial art has featured at the Games, starting with 1990 Auckland, but India had never won gold until now. Harsh Singh added a second judo gold as India finished with four medals, registering a resounding success.
Tripura girl Asmita, whose historic feat in the women’s 48kg ended India’s long wait for a CWG judo gold, has chased her dream despite coming from a modest background and facing financial hardship. She took loans to fund her overseas training without the knowledge of her family.
“It has been a very tough journey, but it did not break my resolve or make me give up judo. I am so passionate about this sport,” says Asmita. Her biggest supporter was her father, who passed away last year. Despite the family’s meagre means, Arjun Dey, a cycle mechanic, encouraged his daughter to continue in the sport.
“I am the youngest of three siblings. It was difficult for my father to run a family of five, but he was always there as my support. Financially, it was tough to continue in judo. I don’t know how I managed,” says the 23-year-old.
Asmita, who trains at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bhopal, says she has been funding her overseas training camps and competitions.
{{/usCountry}}Asmita, who trains at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bhopal, says she has been funding her overseas training camps and competitions.
{{/usCountry}}“I have taken loans not once but several times to fund my training in Germany and France. In India, finding good sparring partners is difficult, so you must go abroad to improve. I took a loan of ₹5 lakh and went for a camp in Germany this year before the Commonwealth Games. I have also been taking smaller loans for training abroad. I did not inform my family about the loans because they would have got worried.”
She started judo when she was 14 and trained in a judo centre before moving to the Tripura Sports School in Agartala. A breakthrough came when she was taken into the SAI NCOE in Bhopal, where she trained under top coaches.
Though Asmita is employed with the Uttar Pradesh Police and plays for her adopted state, she must also care of her family, living in a rented house in Belonia, Tripura. There are times when she gets calls from her mother to send money for family requirements. “We stay in a rented house, and I send part of my salary home and keep the rest for myself. Sometimes I get a call from my mother saying she needs to pay at the grocery store, so I tell the shopkeeper that I will send the money. They are good enough to give credit,” Asmita says. “It’s a lot of tension and struggle that I have gone through. When I got a job with UP Police in 2023 it was a huge help.”
“To go to any European country for training camps, you need ₹1.5-2 lakh, and I can’t afford it with my salary (around ₹40,000), so I take loans. My coaches and some senior players have helped me.”
Judo not in TOPS
Asmita was part of the Development Group of SAI’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme till a few years back before judo was removed from the list. TOPS athletes receive funds for their individual training programme, along with an out-of-pocket allowance, money for diet, etc., and it is a massive help for sports like judo that hardly gets sponsorship. Currently, no judoka features in TOPS, and that raises questions on the short-sightedness of officials drawing up the programme.
“You have to be patient with the players you pick. It takes five or six years or even more to get international results. If you can’t see results within a year or so in TOPS, you either remove the players or the sport. There is no consistent selection policy. Now they will include these players, but that’s not the point,” says a former international player.