Nagoya, Sep 24 (IANS): India’s triple Asian Games medallist Roshibina Devi was pleased to have won the third straight medal at the continental showpiece but wants to change the colour of the second successive silver she won on Thursday at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall.
Roshibina clinched the silver medal in the Women’s 60kg semifinals after losing the final to Zhang Xiaoyu of China 0-2. She had won the silver in the previous Asiad too, having lost to China’s Wu Xiaowei at the Hangzhou 2023 Games.
Speaking after her 2026 silver, Roshibina put her focus on improving her performance in the future. “I am very happy to win the Wushu medal for the third time for India. I will prepare for more games in the future and look to change the colour of the medal,” she told IANS after her silver medal win.
Roshibina initially missed out on a place in the Indian squad after losing the selection trial to Divyanshi Choudhary. She was later called at the 11th hour as a replacement after Divyanshi pulled out following her medical examinations.
She admitted that she had less time to prepare for the Games and reflected on the final match against the Chinese. “I had a short preparation time, and Zhang’s range is also a little longer than mine. So, she took advantage of that. I am preparing to improve and do better than before.
“It was not easy to win a medal back-to-back. It is not easy to recover from injuries and compete with the youth. It is not easy to compete with them. But I will do better in the future. I want to be ready to compete with them,” she said. further.
During her progression to the final, Roshibina had defeated Macao’s Chu Man Sin 5-0 in the quarterfinals to assure herself of a medal. She then prevailed 2-0 against Indonesia’s Thania Kusumaningtyas to progress to the final, but eventually succumbed 0-2 to China’s Zhang in the gold-medal bout.
Roshibina comes from a farming family in Kwasiphai, Bishnupur district, Manipur. She trains in the Women’s Sanda 60kg category at SAI NCOE Imphal under coach Maibam Premkumar Singh and is one of India’s most decorated wushu athletes.
She won bronze at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and upgraded it to silver at the 2023 (19th) Asian Games in Hangzhou, becoming only the second Indian to win a Wushu silver medal at the Asian Games.
Her achievements have been recognised with the Arjuna Award, India’s second-highest sporting honour, and the International Wushu Federation’s Female Wushu Athlete of the Year (Sanda) title.
