Roshibina wins silver; selection drama gets a medal too
Manipur’s Roshibina Devi lost the women’s 60kg sanda final to China’s Zhang Xiaoyu, earning her second straight Asian Games silver after returning to the squad amid a disputed replacement decision.
Roshibina Devi’s silver medal came with a disputed selection subplot.
Roshibina Devi won silver in the women’s 60kg sanda event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on September 24, extending her Asian Games medal run to three editions. China’s Zhang Xiaoyu won the final 2–0, taking both rounds 5–0. (UNI)
Roshibina had beaten Bangladesh’s Shika Khatun, Macao’s Chu Man Sin and Indonesia’s Thania Kusumaningtyas on the way to the final. Her medal sequence now reads bronze in 2018, silver in 2023 and silver in 2026 — a record that has survived rather better than the selection process around it. (India Today)
She entered the squad after the Wushu Association of India withdrew Divyanshi Choudhary, saying medical examinations found a partial high-grade ACL tear with significant effusion. Divyanshi disputed the process and alleged harassment; the association rejected that account and defended the change on medical grounds. Those allegations remain unproven. The federation’s website lists a replacement statement, but its full document could not be independently accessed. (Wushu Association of India)
India got a medal. The selection machinery supplied the subplot.