India, Sept. 23 -- She won India a piece of sporting history and yet cried inconsolably. Meet Suchika Tariyal, 36, who stood at the podium of the ongoing Asian Games in Japan holding a bronze medal, and upon realising that it's India's first-ever MMA medal at the competition she couldn't control the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Hours before winning bronze for this Rohtak-born's dream of making it to the final had ended somewhere between a judges' table and a weighing scale. Her 60kg semi final against Singapore's Hui Hoon Teo went to overtime, with judges initially ruling in Teo's favour. India protested, the panel reviewed the footage and rescored it a draw, but under IMMAF rules a draw is broken by the morning weigh-in. Her opponent,...