Roshibina Devi misses out on gold but secures 3rd consecutive Asian Games medal, addresses selection controversy

Roshibina Devi secured her third consecutive Asian Games 2026 medal. On September 24 in the Wushu event 60kg category final, Roshibina lost to China's Zhang Xiaoyu and settled for a silver medal. Xiaoyu beat Roshibina 2-0, winning both rounds by 5-0.

This is also Roshibina's second consecutive silver medal in Asian Games. I the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, she had bagged a silver medal as well. In the 2018 Jakarta edition, she had returned home with a bronze medal.

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Roshibina breaks silence on controversy

Before Roshibina bagged another Asian Games medal, there was controversy around her selection in the squad. Divyanshi Choudhary who had beaten Roshibina in the selection trials had alleged that she was not ruled out due to injury and the doctors have given her a green light given she plays with taping on her knee. The official word from Wushu Association of India (WAI) was that Roshibina has an ACL injury.

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After completing a hat-trick of medals, Roshibina addressed the controversy saying that she had nothing to do with it.

"What happened was not because of me. It was the federation's decision. Whatever decision the federation (Wushu Association of India) took, I think it was a good decision," Roshibina said after the final bout. "I will ignore it (the accusation). I just want to focus on my goal.”

Roshibina on last-minute inclusion and injuries

Roshibina was a last-minute inclusion in the squad and justified it with a silver medal. However, she admitted that she would've done better had she got more time to prepare as she was not named in the initial squad.

"There was a lot of disturbance when I came here for the Asian Games. I did not get much time to prepare. If I had more time, I would have done better," she said.

"But I'm very happy with the silver, even though I did not get what I really wanted (gold). I’m happier for this silver than I was after Hangzhou in 2023. That was a difficult time for me (as ethnic violence was happening at that time). Now I am stronger."

Roshibina went into the gold medal bout with taping on her right knee. After the bout, she revealed that it is a minor injury. During the bout, she also suffered a nose injury. She is not worried about the pain and wants to inspire other athletes to take up Wushu. She intends to do well in the upcoming events.

Sixth silver for India

Roshibina bagged India's sixth silver medal at the games. So far, India have only one gold at the games with Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian cricket team winning the gold in women's final.