Indian wushu fighter Roshibina Devi secures historic third medal
Indian athlete Roshibina Devi etched her name in sporting history on Thursday by capturing her second consecutive silver medal at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. Competing in the women's sanda 60 kg final, she faced formidable Chinese opponent Zhang Xiaoyu. Zhang won both rounds with a dominant 0-5 scoreline, ultimately taking the match 2-0. Wushu, a martial art derived from traditional Chinese disciplines, requires intense agility and tactical striking, making medals in this category highly competitive on the global stage.
Despite falling short of gold, Roshibina achieved a remarkable milestone. She is now the first Indian woman to win three successive Wushu medals at this continental event. Her impressive track record includes a bronze medal in 2018 and a silver at the 2022 Hangzhou Games. Throughout her current campaign in Japan, she showcased brilliant form. This included a stunning victory over 2023 world champion Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy of Vietnam. She followed that up with a 2-0 semi-final win against Thania Kusumaningtyas of Indonesia on Wednesday to reach the final.
Rowing Bronze boosts medal tally
India saw further success on the water. Satnam Singh and Salman Khan captured a bronze medal in the men's double sculls final. The pair finished the race in 6:13.25. They fell just 3.48 seconds behind China's gold medal-winning duo, Yi Xudi and Nie Yide. Uzbekistan's Mekhrojbek Mamatkulov and Pavel Sorin took silver, finishing 2.76 seconds ahead of the Indians. Satnam and Salman held second place across the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m marks before losing ground in the final stretch. At one stage, they trailed the leading Chinese boat by a mere half-second. With these two new podium finishes, India has now collected 14 medals at the ongoing Games, comprising one gold, six silver, and seven bronze.
Rowers faced mixed fortunes, as Balraj Panwar narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the men's singles sculls competition. After maintaining second place for the first 1500 meters of his race, Balraj faded in the final 500 meters. Shakhboz Kholmurzaev of Uzbekistan and Japan's Tatsuya Sakurama overtook him. Balraj had built a five-second advantage over Sakurama before the final sprint but ultimately finished fourth. He clocked a time of 6:54.80, finishing eight seconds behind the Japanese rower and 15 seconds adrift of Chinese gold medalist Zhiwei Deng. These results reflect strong performances from Indian athletes across multiple disciplines in Japan.
With Inputs from Agency Threads and Image Courtesy: ANI/Sai Media
