Roshibina Devi, named in Wushu team at 11th hour, wins silver at Asian Games
India’s Roshibina Devi, who was named to the Wushu team at the 11th hour, won silver at the 2026 Asian Games on Thursday, September 24. Roshibina lost 0-2 to China’s Zhang Xiaoyu in the Sandy 60kg final, with the Chinese fighter winning both rounds 5-0.
Zhang produced a dominant performance in the gold medal match, never allowing Roshiba to settle into her rhythm. The Chinese fighter maintained control in both rounds to claim the gold, while Roshibina had to settle for her second consecutive Asian Games silver.
Nevertheless, the medal extends Roshina’s remarkable run at the continental games. She won a bronze in her debut at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games before going one better with a silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. Her silver in Aichi-Nagoya means she has now won medals at three consecutive Asian Games, making her the first Indian female wushu athlete to do so.
Asian Games 2026: September 24 update
Roshibina Devi won the silver medal at the 2026 Asian Games. (PTI Photo)
WHO IS ROSHIBINA DEVI?
Roshibina Devi was born on 30 December 2000 in Kwasiphai Mayai Leikai in Bishnupur district of Manipur and is one of India’s leading female wushu athletes. He competes in Sanda, a wushu fighting discipline that combines punching, kicking and throwing techniques.
Roshibina became interested in wushu as a child after watching a district competition in Manipur. She also tried boxing but eventually chose wushu and began training seriously under local coaches before joining the Sports Authority of India center in Imphal where she trained under coach Maibam Premkumar Singh.
Her first major international breakthrough came in 2016 at the Junior World Wushu Championships in Burgas, Bulgaria, where she won bronze in the 48kg category. The following year, she moved up to 60 kg and won gold at the Asian Junior Wushu Championships in Gumi, South Korea.
Roshibina made her debut at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta at the age of just 17. She defeated Pakistan’s Mubashra Akhtar in the quarterfinals before losing to China’s Cai Yingying in the semifinals to win the bronze medal.
She followed that up with gold at the 2019 South Asian Games in Kathmandu.
At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Roshibina went one step further when she reached the 60kg Sanda final. She eventually won the silver after losing to China’s Wu Xiaowei, ending India’s long wait for a wushu silver medal at the Asian Games.
This year turned out to be extremely successful for Roshibina. Along with Asian Games silver, she won silver at the World Wushu Championships in Texas and gold at the Moscow All-Star Wushu Championships. She was subsequently awarded the 2023 Arjuna Award, while the International Wushu Federation named her its Sanda Athlete of the Year.
WHAT IS ROSHIBINA DEVI SELECTION CHECK?
Roshina’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 dropped from the Asian Games squad following medicals.
The Indian Wushu Association said Divyanshi suffered a high-grade partial ACL tear with significant effusion and subsequently named Roshibina as her replacement.
This change caused public controversy in the run-up to the Games. Divyanshi alleged that she was harassed and bullied by Roshibina at a Wushu camp in Patiala and claimed that Roshibina deliberately tried to injure her shoulder during training.
Divyanshi also released a public video in which she threatened to take her own life after saying she was not informed about being replaced in the Asian Games team.
She later apologized for the video and accepted the decision to remove her from the cast, although she did not apologize to Roshiba for the accusations. The Wushu Association denied the allegations and insisted that the decision to replace Divyanshi was based on medical reasons.
ROSHIBINA DEVI ASIAN GAMES 2026 CAMPAIGN
Once she arrived in Aichi-Nagoya, she put Roshiba’s selection drama behind her and focused on the competition.
She opened her campaign with a win over Bangladesh’s Shika Khatun in the pre-quarterfinals before defeating Macau’s Chu Man Sin 5-0 in the quarterfinals. The win secured Roshiba’s medal and also made her the first Indian female wushu athlete to win medals in three consecutive Asian Games. Roshibina Devi overcame selection controversy to win silver at the Asian Games. (PTI photo)
She then beat Indonesia’s Thania Kusumaningtyas 2-0 in the semi-finals to book her spot in the gold medal match.
However, Zhang proved too strong for the Indian in the final.
The Chinese fighter came into the match on the back of an impressive run of competition, including a win 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.
Roshina’s latest silver adds to her Asian Games medal haul: bronze in Jakarta in 2018, silver in Hangzhou in 2023 and silver in Aichi-Nagoya in 2026.
Gold remains the only major medal missing from her Asian Games record. After reaching the finals in three consecutive editions, Roshibina has now established herself as one of India’s most consistent wushu athletes at the continental level.
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
24 Sep 2026 07:45 IST