The promise of four medals from wushu was fulfilled on Wednesday at the Asian Games, with bronze being the shade of all the four.
The Indians on view at the Jakarta International Expo Hall all lost their semifinal bouts in the Sanda section.
Roshibina Devi went down to Cai Yingying of China in the women’s 60kg category, Santosh Kumar was humbled by Buo Truong Guang of Vietnam in the men’s 56kg class, Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh lost to Erfan Ahangarian of Iran in the 60kg class and Narender Garewal bowed to Faroud Zafari of Iran in the 65kg.
It wasn’t all decimation though. All the Indian gave a good fight and at least a couple of them felt they were hard done by when it came to the points in the contest that is a mixture of boxing, wrestling and taekwondo.
Roshibina was the first to take the arena and the 17-year-old gave it her all against the experienced Chinese. Unfortunately, the points won’t fall in her kitty and the first round went China’s way. Yingying then dominated the second round and with the Indian tiring fast, she was a clear winner.
“I am happy that I won the bronze but I am also a bit sad that I lost the bout today,” said the diminutive Manipuri, who hails from Imphal.
“After the first round, I was down mentally and couldn’t give it my best in the second,” she said.
Santosh was beaten handily by Guang in the men’s 56kg class but Surya Bhanu won the hearts by continuing to fight despite injuring his right knee in the contest against Ahangarian. He was finding it difficult to stand even, but insisted on completing the fight and in a touching gesture, he was carried out of the arena by the Iranian.
Garewal also had his moments against Zafari, especially in the first round, but the Iranian was awarded the round and Zafari went on to march into the gold medal round.
India had won two bronze medals in the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon and the coaches, though a tad disappointed by the defeats today, were pleased with the overall progress.
“We are certainly coming up, and will do better in the future,” said Indian coach Kuldeep Kumar.