All the four Indian wushu players lost their semi-final bouts to settle for bronze medals on Wednesday but they ensured that the country produced its best performance in the Asian Games.
Naorem Roshibini Devi, Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Partap Singh and Narender Grewal lost their Sanda event semi-final bouts but in the process gave the Indian team an unprecedented four medals in the competition.
Before this edition, India had taken part in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games and this four medal haul has been their best so far. In 2014 Incheon, India had won two bronze, with Grewal clinching one in men’s Sanda 60kg. For Grewal, Wednesday’s bronze is his second medal in the Asian Games.
In the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games, India had won one (bronze) and two (one silver, one bronze) medals respectively. Roshibini Devi was the first to take the field in women’s Sanda 60kg semi-finals and she lost to Cai Yingying of China 0-1.
Next up was Santosh Kumar in men’s Sanda 56kg category but he was no match to Truong Giang Bui of Vietnam as he lost 0-2 in the semi-final bout.
Any hopes of an Indian wushu player appearing in the finals on Thursday went up in smoke as Partap Singh (men’s Sanda 60kg) and Grewal (men’s Sanda 65kg) lost their last-four bouts. Partap Singh lost to Erfan Ahangarian 0-2 while Grewal was beaten by Akmal Rakhimov of Uzbekistan by the same margin.