Jakarta, 22 August 2018: In another brilliant story, 17-year old Naorem Roshibina Devi fought like a true champion against some of the best in Asia. Ultimately, she settled for the bronze medal as she lost to Cai Yingying of China in the semifinals of the Women’s Sanda 60kg in the ongoing 2018 Asian Games.
Venue: The Jakarta International Expo Hall on Wednesday.
Day: Wednesday, 22nd August
Sport: Wushu
Earlier in the day, she breezed through the quarter final after defeating Pakistan’s MUBASHRA 2-0 in the same category. The rule of these Games is that both losing semi-finalists get a bronze, so once our athletes get into the semi-final stage, the celebrations can more or less begin in India.
What is Wushu?
Basically, this is a full-contact sport, or a type of martial arts, which is also referred to as Chinese kungfu. It appears to look like modern kickboxing or MMA, but has more grappling techniques. Wushu Sanda in particular, is a type of martial art which was developed by the Chinese military and was based on the practices and studies of traditional Kungfu mixed with modern combat techniques.
Overall, it was a brilliant day for India, particularly in the sport of Wushu. What was very much an unknown sport in India will now be studied and we may have many Wushu stars in the making as Devi wasn’t the only one to win a medal in Wushu today. It was India’s best Asian Games Wushu performance, as four athletes reached the semi-finals stage.
