Meet Linthoi Chanambam, first judo world champion from India at the age of 16

Linthoi Chanambam created history on Friday as the 16-year-old from Manipur became the first ever judo world champion from India. She defeated Bianca Reis of Brazil in the final of the 57 kg category to clinch a historic gold medal at the World Cadet Judo Championship in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

The youngster dominated her opponents enroute to the final with four wins by clear ippons (ippon – a move in judo that earns 10 points and a straight win). In the summit clash, she faced an opponent with more international experience, but Chanambam kept her calm and came out with the victory.

While the match was extremely close for most parts, Chanambam ended up winning it by scoring waza-ari (the move with the second highest number of points after ippon).

Hailing from Mayang in Manipur, Chanambam started judo in 2014 as the sport was quite popular in her village. During an interaction with journalists after her victory, she said that there were a number of judo academies near her village and that helped her in understanding the sport.

"I used to play football, boxing just for fun, but I wanted to play judo professionally."

However, the big break for Chanambam came in 2017 when she was spotted by the head coach of Inspire Institute of Sport's (IIS) judo programme — Mamuka Kizilashvili — during one of his scouting visits. She joined the programme in 2017 and has been training under him ever since.

In 2021, she won the National Championships, and followed it up with a good show in the Asian Cadet Championships and a gold medal in the Junior Judo Championships held in Bangkok, Thailand.

After the historic victory, the 16-year-old is now focused on the road ahead and like her idol Majlinda Kelmendi, Chanambam wants to win the goal medal in judo at the Olympics.

"There's one player, she's from Kosovo. Majlinda Kelmendi. She's the first athlete from Kosovo to win a gold medal at the Olympics (2016). So, I want to be the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics," she said in an interaction with journalists according to ESPN.