Imphal, Sept 28: Fifteen years ago, at Kwakshiphai, a nondescript village in Manipur’s Bishnupur district, a little girl spent her free time punching and kicking at an improvised punching bag she made at her residence, paving her way to learn Wushu at Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centre in Imphal.
On Thursday, the girl – Naorem Roshibina Devi – clinched a silver medal in the women’s 60-kg Sanda final at the ongoing 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. In the match, Xiaowi Wu of the host country defeated her 2-0.
Roshibina had hoped to script history by clinching India’s first gold in Wushu at the Asian Games after her terrific performance at the semi finals defeating Vietnam’s Thi Thu Thuy Ngyugen 2-0, needing only 2 rounds of 2 minutes each.
“I’m happy about my performance but I could have been happier if I would have been the champion and also if the situation in my home state was resolved,” she said while reacting to the media after the final bout. She went on saying she will aim for gold in the next outing.
Nevertheless, Roshibina managed to change the colour of medal she won at Jakarta Asiad in 2018 from bronze to silver this time.
“For all of us in our small family and village, we are all happy as my daughter bagged a silver medal today. But her (Roshibina) elation didn’t go to the peak as she was expecting a gold in the final match,” Naorem Damu Singh, father of Roshibina, said.
Soon after he heard the news about his daughter, he somehow managed to call her on Whatsapp from a house where the internet is accessible, said Damu, an ordinary cultivator.
“During our short conversation, my daughter was not in her highest happiness mood as she said she was expecting a gold medal in the final match. I, however, asked her not to lose heart, and encouraged her to grab first position in the upcoming international competitions,” Damu added.
He added that Roshibina (22) has already been selected for the International Wushu Championship to be held in the USA in November this year. Apart from the Asiad medals she grabbed, Roshibina has also won hordes of laurels, including a gold medal in Junior Wushu World Championship held in Bulgaria in 2016, another gold in South Asian Games (Kathmandu) in 2019 and two similar medals in ‘Moscow Wushu Stars”.
Recapitulating Roshibina’s deep passion for Wushu, Damu said when she was just 7-8 years old, she collected tattered clothes and made a punching bag, which she punched and kicked frantically all the time.
“Noticing her zeal, a Wushu champion Malemnganbi Devi from our locality began teaching the game. Another Wushu coach, M Ronel Singh from Nachou, our neighbouring village also taught her the art of the game for a short period of time,” Damu continued. Later, Roshibina was sent to SAI training centre in Imphal to get formal Wushu training under its coach M Premkumar, he said adding that she is currently pursuing her BA first year at CI College in the district.
On being asked about celebrating Roshibina’s Asiad glory, he said owing to the current ethnic violence “we are not going for fanfare.”
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