Roshibina Devi beats controversy, wins her 3rd Asian Games medal
Named in the Wushu team in the 11th hour, India's Roshibina Devi won silver in the Asian Games 2026 on Thursday, September 24. Roshibina lost 0-2 to China's Zhang Xiaoyu in the women's 60kg Sanda final, with the Chinese fighter winning both rounds 5-0.
Zhang produced a dominant performance in the gold-medal bout and never allowed Roshibina to settle into her rhythm. The Chinese fighter maintained control through both rounds to claim the gold, while Roshibina had to settle for her second successive Asian Games silver.
The medal nevertheless extends Roshibina's remarkable run at the continental Games. She had won bronze on her Asian Games debut in Jakarta in 2018 before going one better with a silver at the Hangzhou Games in 2023. Her silver in Aichi-Nagoya means she has now won medals at three successive editions of the Asian Games, making her the first Indian wushu athlete to achieve the feat.
Asian Games 2026: September 24 updates Roshibina Devi wins silver medal in Asian Games 2026. (PTI Photo)
Born on December 30, 2000, in Kwasiphai Mayai Leikai in Manipur's Bishnupur district, Roshibina Devi is one of India's leading wushu athletes. She competes in Sanda, the combat discipline of wushu that combines striking, kicking and throwing techniques.
Roshibina developed an interest in wushu as a child after watching a district-level competition in Manipur. She had also tried boxing, but eventually chose wushu and began training seriously under local coaches before joining the Sports Authority of India centre in Imphal, where she trained under coach Maibam Premkumar Singh.
Her first major international breakthrough came at the 2016 Junior World Wushu Championships in Burgas, Bulgaria, where she won bronze in the 48kg category. The following year, she moved up to 60kg and won gold at the Asian Junior Wushu Championships in Gumi, South Korea.
Roshibina made her Asian Games debut in Jakarta in 2018, aged just 17. She defeated Pakistan's Mubashra Akhtar in the quarter-finals before losing to China's Cai Yingying in the semi-finals, earning a bronze medal.
She followed that with gold at the 2019 South Asian Games in Kathmandu.
At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, Roshibina went one step further by reaching the 60kg Sanda final. She eventually won silver after losing to China's Wu Xiaowei, ending India's long wait for a wushu silver medal at the Asian Games.
The year proved to be a particularly successful one for Roshibina. Along with her Asian Games silver, she won silver at the World Wushu Championships in Texas and gold at the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship. She was subsequently awarded the Arjuna Award for 2023, while the International Wushu Federation named her its Female Sanda Athlete of the Year.WHAT IS ROSHIBINA DEVI'S SELECTION CONTROVERSY?
Roshibina's place in India's 2026 Asian Games team was far from certain.
She lost the selection trial to teammate Divyanshi Choudhary and initially missed out on a place in the squad. Her return to the team came after Divyanshi was withdrawn from the Asian Games squad following medical examinations.
The Wushu Association of India said Divyanshi had suffered a partial high-grade ACL tear with significant effusion and subsequently named Roshibina as her replacement.
The change triggered a public controversy in the build-up to the Games. Divyanshi alleged that she had been harassed and bullied by Roshibina at the Wushu camp in Patiala, and claimed that Roshibina had deliberately tried to injure her shoulder during training.
Divyanshi also posted a public video in which she threatened to take her own life after saying she had not been informed that she was being replaced in the Asian Games team.
She later apologised for the video and accepted the decision to remove her from the squad, although she did not apologise to Roshibina for the allegations. The Wushu Association rejected the allegations and maintained that the decision to replace Divyanshi was based on medical grounds.advertisementROSHIBINA DEVI'S ASIAN GAMES 2026 CAMPAIGNOnce she arrived in Aichi-Nagoya, Roshibina put the selection drama behind her and focused on the competition.
She began her campaign with a win over Bangladesh's Shika Khatun in the pre-quarterfinals before defeating Macao's Chu Man Sin 5-0 in the quarter-finals. The victory assured Roshibina of a medal and also made her the first Indian wushu athlete to win medals at three consecutive Asian Games. Roshibina Devi beats selection controversy to win Asian Games silver. (PTI Photo)
She then defeated Indonesia's Thania Kusumaningtyas 2-0 in the semi-final to book her place in the gold-medal bout.
Zhang, however, proved too strong for the Indian in the final.
The Chinese fighter had entered the bout after an impressive run through the competition, including a victory over Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, the 2023 world champion. She carried that form into the final against Roshibina, winning both rounds 5-0 to secure the gold.
Roshibina's latest silver adds to her sequence of Asian Games medals: bronze in Jakarta in 2018, silver in Hangzhou in 2023 and silver in Aichi-Nagoya in 2026.
The gold remains the one major medal missing from her Asian Games record. After reaching the final in three successive editions, Roshibina has now established herself as one of India's most consistent wushu athletes at the continental level.- EndsPublished By: Kingshuk KusariPublished On: Sep 24, 2026 07:45 IST
