Roshibina Devi.
Credit: PTI Photo
For India's Naorem Roshibina Devi the silver medal in women's 60kg sanda event of wushu was a victory for the victims of Manipur violence that has been raging in her native state since May this year.
Hailing from the Meitei community in Kwashiphai village in Bishnupur district adjoining Churachandpur, which is dominated by the rival Kuki ethnic community, Roshibina fought a valiant fight against local heavyweight Wu Xiaowei before going down 0-2 in two rounds in the final.
The conflict between the two communities in Manipur has killed scores of people and injured so many more.
"Manipur is burning. Fighting is going on in Manipur. I can't go to my village. I want to dedicate this medal to those who are protecting us and suffering there," said Roshibina after clinching the silver.
The Manipuri athlete was crying inconsolably as she added: "I don't know what will happen, the fighting has been continuing. When will it stop and return to normal life of earlier times."
China has dominated the women's 60kg category and an ultra-aggressive Wu ensured that the hosts defended their gold medal of the Jakarta-Palembang edition.
Roshibina's effort was good enough for the 22-year-old to upgrade her bronze from the Asian Games 2018. She had confirmed at least a silver on Wednesday when she put up a terrific fight to knock out world championship silver and bronze medallist Thi Thu Thuy Nguyen of Vietnam 2-0.
She spoke to her parents on Wednesday and they asked her to focus on the final without getting distracted by the Manipuri violence.
"They told me to focus on the match and not on other things. My family is fine. I don't speak to them regularly as my coaches say the violence at home will distract me.
"We prepared very well and we could do well here and won a silver," she added.
The Indian found the going tough against Wu Xiaowei, the reigning champions in the category, allowing the Chinese to get off to a strong start. Wu was declared winner by the judges after two rounds.
Trying to get her opponent off the mat, the local favourite had an aggressive first round and began with a splendid take down.
The Manipuri athlete tried to bounce back and got hold of Wu's leg to push her out to the edges but was unsuccessful as round one belonged to the Chinese who had a 1-0 lead.
A watchful Wu sealed the issue with an attack on Roshibina Devi's torso in the second round.
Hailing from a modest background, Roshibina came to limelight after winning a bronze medal at the Junior Worlds in 2016.
At the 2018 Asian Games, a total of 10 competitors had initially qualified for the event.
She received a first-round bye in the round of 16, and had her first-round match against Mubashra Akhtar of Pakistan in the quarterfinals.
She defeated Mubashra 2-0 to reach the semis and assured herself a medal.
In the semifinals, she narrowly missed out with a 0-1 loss to China’s Cai Yingying.
She geared up to the Hangzhou showpiece winning a gold at the Moscow Wushu Star Championship.