Roshibina Devi Naorem’s third Asian Games medal: A historic hat-trick after a dramatic road to Nagoya

Three consecutive Asian Games appearances, three consecutive medals. Roshibina Devi Naorem became the first Wushu player from India to win a hat-trick of Asiad medals. But this time, she had to fight just to make the squad, arriving as a last-minute injury replacement after a selection process that was itself mired in controversy, before clinching silver on Thursday at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall in Nagoya.At 17, Roshibina had bagged bronze at the Jakarta Games in the women's Sanda 60kg division and improved to silver at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.Now 25, the Manipuri secured silver for the second time in the same weight division of Sanda, the combat-sport discipline of Wushu. She had earlier defeated Macao's Chu Man Sin 5-0 in the quarterfinals to assure herself of a medal. In the Sanda category of Wushu, semifinalists are guaranteed at least a bronze.