Roshibina Devi was inconsolable after winning silver in the women’s 60kg sanda event of Wushu.
The silver medal in the women’s 60kg sanda event in wushu for India’s Naorem Roshibina Devi was a victory for the victims of Manipur violence, which has been raging in her native state since May this year. Roshibina, who is from the Meitei ethnic community in Kwashiphai hamlet in Bishnupur district, which borders Churachandpur and is dominated by the rival Kuki ethnic tribe, fought valiantly against local heavyweight Wu Xiaowei before losing 0-2 in two rounds in the final. Countless people have been murdered and injured in Manipur as a result of the violence between two communities.
“Manipur is on fire. Fighting is raging in Manipur. I’m unable to travel to my village. “I want to dedicate this medal to those who are protecting us and suffering there,” Roshibina stated after winning the silver.
“I don’t know what will happen, the fighting has been going on,” the Manipuri athlete sobbed. When will it end and life return to normal?” China dominated the women’s 60kg event, as an aggressive Wu guaranteed that the hosts defended their Jakarta-Palembang gold medal.
Roshibina’s performance was good enough to upgrade her bronze medal at the Asian Games 2018. She had guaranteed at least a silver medal on Wednesday when she knocked out world championship silver and bronze medallist Thi Thu Thuy Nguyen of Vietnam 2-0.
She spoke with her parents on Wednesday, and they advised her to concentrate on the final without being distracted by the Manipuri violence.
“They told me to concentrate solely on the match and not on anything else.” My family is fine. I don’t talk to them very often because my coaches believe the violence at home will distract me.
“We prepared very well, and we could do well here and won a silver,” she continued.
The Indian struggled against Wu Xiaowei, the current winners in the division, which allowed the Chinese to get off to a solid start. Following two rounds, Wu was crowned the victor by the judges.
The hometown favourite had an aggressive first round and started with a beautiful takedown in an effort to pull her opponent off the canvas.
The Manipuri athlete made an effort to recover and grabbed Wu’s leg to push her to the margins, but she was unsuccessful because the Chinese won round one with a 1-0 advantage.
Roshibina gained notoriety after earning a bronze medal at the Junior Worlds in 2016. She came from a humble upbringing.
Initially qualifying for the event at the Asian Games of 2018 were a total of 10 athletes.
In the 16th round, she received a first-round bye and played Pakistan’s Mubashra Akhtar in the quarterfinals for her first-round match.
A gold was guaranteed for her when she overcame Mubashra 2-0 to get to the semifinals.
With a 0-1 loss to China’s Cai Yingying in the semifinals, she came up just short.
After taking first place in the Moscow Wushu Star Championship, she prepared for the Hangzhou exhibition.
