Roshibina wins silver to complete Asian Games medal hat-trick in women's sanda 60kg
On September 24, 2026, at the Asian Games in Nagoya, 25-year-old Naorem Roshibina Devi lost 0-2 to China’s Zhang Xiaoyu in the women’s sanda 60kg final and claimed the silver, completing a hat-trick of Asian Games medals.
Less than a fortnight before the Games, Roshibina had accepted that she would miss the event after losing in the wushu trials and was preparing to watch on television, but she was later added to the squad and reached the final. The result extended her sequence of medals following a bronze in 2018 and a silver in 2023. Roshibina declined to discuss the circumstances of her selection in detail, saying: "It is not my position, whatever happened was not because of me. It was the decision of the federation, whatever decision they took I think was good. I will ignore it and focus on my goal."
In the final against Zhang, Roshibina was unable to overcome a Chinese opponent who was dominant and on the offensive from the start, and she lost the bout 0-2. Speaking about the match, Roshibina said: "The coach had told me she is physically strong. We tried our best to defend. The Chinese team puts a lot of pressure. I have won silver medal before, I tried a lot for the gold but could not. We have to focus on our mentality. There are a lot of good players in India, I am sure they will do better," she insisted.
Roshibina entered the final with a taped knee and sustained a blow to the face during the contest. On her condition she said: "It is just a minor injury. When I am in competition, I forget everything. I am in a different state of mind, I don’t know what pain is."
The selection debate that preceded her inclusion involved Divyanshi Choudhary, who had beaten Roshibina in the trials before being withdrawn with an ACL injury. Divyanshi accused the federation of harassment and favouritism and posted a message threatening to end her life before being spoken to by the Sports Ministry and the federation.
Roshibina acknowledged the disruption to her preparation but said she was grateful for the support around her and intends to recover and aim higher. She told reporters: "There was disturbance, I did not get much time to prepare. If I had more time, I would have performed much better. But everyone supported me a lot to reach here. I did not get what everyone wanted but I will try to do better in future, try to recover and come back."
Her silver in Nagoya completes a trio of Asian Games medals for Roshibina — bronze in 2018, silver in 2023 and silver in 2026 — marking three successive Games with a podium finish.