From days without food to CWG gold: Ashmita Dey now faces India’s 32-year wait for judo at Asian Games

Ashmita Dey arrives at the Asian Games less than two months after becoming the first Indian judoka to win Commonwealth Games gold.The Commonwealth title in Birmingham changed her profile almost overnight and the 24-year-old, who has spent much of her career out of the limelight, is now being recognized off the mat.“No one knew me before. But now everyone knows me. When I went for food, someone said, this is the same girl, right? This is the same girl who created history for judo for the first time in India. I was very happy to hear all this,” Ashmita told Timesofindia.com.That recognition means so much to her for some reason. Asmita’s career was built on a combination of sporting support and financial insecurity, the latter shaping much of what she wanted from judo.Before the Commonwealth gold, it was bronze at the 2022 Asian Junior Championships, gold at the 2023 Macau Junior Asia Cup, silver at the Asian Open in Kuwait later that year and another podium finish at the African Open in Casablanca in 2025. She also finished fifth at the Asian Senior Championships in April this year in Almaty.Success and recognition have come a long way from humble beginnings in Belonia, a small town in Tripura, where her introduction to a Jew was almost accidental.Her uncle heard about the tests at the sports school, where they ran, jumped and tested themselves. Asmita was initially involved in athletics, but judo became the sport that remained.“My aunt thought I was talented and got me into judo and I started from there,” Asmita recalled.Within a week of starting judo, she was competing in jiu-jitsu and finished first. Two or three weeks later came the state competition where she won gold.The early years were supported by family members moving her between training locations. Her brothers cycled her to practice, while her father often rode her from the village on a scooter, sometimes in the rain.“My father was very supportive. He never stopped me for a game. My mother never stopped me.”When food was a struggle, the house became a dreamHowever, there were limits to what the family could provide. Asmita remembers a time when there was no food at home.“Because sometimes we didn’t even have food. We slept after drinking water. Sometimes we just had rice, salt and chili peppers with water. Sometimes we got food once, sometimes twice. So I remember all those days.”Her mother had one gold earring, the only piece of jewelry she owned, and it was pawned for money. Asmita said she still hasn’t been able to get it back and the interest is still piling up.Asked if she would get it back now, Asmita’s response was immediate.“Yes, it will definitely come back. I have to get it.”Her father worked as a bicycle mechanic, taking whatever work he could find while the family struggled to make ends meet. The family lived in a rented house for years. Asmita grew up thinking that what she could achieve would have to be their own house.Soon after starting, she won her first competitions and her coaches were already telling her that she could go further.By 2018, she had won silver at the Khelo India Games and moved to the Sports Authority of India Regional Center in Bhopal. That was when she came under coach Yashpal Solanki – former Indian judoka and Arjuna awardee – after earlier supporting Manik Lal Deb in Tripura.

Asmit Dey with coach Yashpal Solanki

Solanki also pushed her to international competition. “My coach said I have to play internationally. I have to win a gold medal. He told me I have to win a gold medal and I did.”Father’s death, Commonwealth gold and what followedThe journey has recently been interrupted by injury and, more painfully, the death of her father. When she was injured in Delhi, he traveled to see her with her medicines.

Asmita Dey with her father

“When I first got injured in Delhi, my father came to see me. He brought me all the medicines,” Asmita recalled.His death in 2025 came with the Commonwealth Games trial looming and her coach called her back to training around the 12th or 13th.About a month left.“I told him I can’t do it. I don’t want to do it.”The coach then spoke to her about the Bhagavad Gita and death.“He told me this is the truth. He used to read the Gita. I read the Gita too. He told me this is the truth. One day one has to leave. He motivated me a lot.”She went back to training. “To cope, I thought if I cry and get weak, who will take care of my family? How will I make a house? I controlled my emotions a lot. You have to control your emotions a lot.”And before the final there was only one thought. “I thought I had to win and I had to get the gold medal.She did, and the gold brought another reminder of the person she had lost. “Yes, I remembered my father a lot. If my father was alive, he would be very happy. It was such a big achievement for me. He would be very happy. I know it.”But another moment stayed with her on the Commonwealth stage: the Indian flag and the national anthem, surrounded by athletes from other countries.“That was the biggest thing. I felt very proud.”Ashmita joined Uttar Pradesh Police in 2023 through sports quota. She was subsequently promoted to sub-inspector and promoted to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) after winning Commonwealth Games gold. This job has already provided her with some financial security and helped her take care of herself and her family.

Asmita Dey has been promoted as DSP in UP Police

“I was so scared that I did so much in between. I was facing so much financially, but now I don’t have to think about it too much; I can (train with) a free mind. I’m doing better now. I can handle it better.”However, the house remains in her mind.“I always wanted to build a house. I had to do something. I had to do something big. Only if I do this, I can build a house. I’ve always thought like that. Finally, now I can build a house.”A tough test of Asian gamesNow comes the Asian Games where Asmita will face a field led by several established Asian names in the women’s 48kg category.Mongolia’s Narantsetseg Ganbaatar is the highest-ranked participant at 13th in the world, followed by Kazakhstan’s Abiba Abuzhakynova at 19th. Japan’s Mitsuki Kondo, Uzbekistan’s Laziza Haydarova, Hong Kong, China’s Ka Lee Wong and South Korea are also in the Su Jinju Jung area1.There is another number that puts India’s task into perspective. Judo has produced only five Asian Games medals for India, all bronze. Four came at the sport’s debut at the 1986 Seoul Games, while Poonam Chopra won a fifth in the women’s 56kg category at Hiroshima in 1994.India has not stood on the Asian Judo Games podium since then. In comparison, Indian judokas have won 15 Commonwealth Games medals.Asmita enters a field led by high-profile Asian judokas and also holds the record for Indian judo, which has not produced an Asian Games medal for 32 years.