On October 7, 2025, 18-year-old Linthoi Chanambam from Manipur creates history after bagging India’s first-ever medal at the Judo World Junior Championships 2025 in Lima, Peru. She is the only Indian to win medals at both the Cadet World & Junior World Championship level of distinction.
For Chanambam, this is the second age group world championships medal. Back in 2022, she won a gold medal in the Cadet World Championship Sarajevo.
Earlier, she first lost to Japan’s So Morichika in the preliminaries. Failing there, she then went to the repechage round, where she won against Slovakia’s Ilariia Tsurkan. She then participated in the Women’s 63 kg event and defeated the Netherlands’ Joni Geilen to win the bronze medal match.
After receiving a penalty for blocking her opponent, Chanambam struck her chance with a strong attempt of tomoe-nage, putting up her opponent on the defense. The contest followed with balance, after which the Indian judoka made her final move in the final seconds, securing a hold-down to claim ippon.
Last year, the Indian judoka was sidelined for a large amount of time, suffering from an ACL injury. Recovered, she then made her return to competitive judo this year.
Following the win, Manipur’s former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh took to social media expressing his admiration. The post read, “Heartiest congratulations to Linthoi Chanambam on winning the Bronze medal at the World Junior Judo Championships! Your hard work, perseverance, and dedication have made the entire state of Manipur and the nation immensely proud.”
Back in June 2025, she claimed another milestone after becoming India’s first judoka to win a gold medal at the Berlin Junior European Cup.
Emotional about her win, Linthoi, during the post-match interview, said, “This is just the beginning.”
Chanambam’s win marks a groundbreaking moment made by a world-class judoka in the history of Indian sports. The win serves as a big inspiration for the young athletes out there who are currently training in the sport of judo.
Where it started
Chanambam started her judo training at the age of eight, in her hometown, Mayang Imphal. She then started training at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in Karnataka. Her rise since then has been inspirational, representing women on the world stage in the sport of judo and winning with confidence.
Achievements
In 2024, Chanambam was honored and presented with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, for her remarkable achievement and contribution towards the sport of judo.
