Three Asian Games, three medals — Naorem Roshibina Devi has done something no other Indian Wushu athlete has managed: built a consecutive-Games podium streak that now stretches across a decade of continental competition. BJP MP Anurag Thakur celebrated the feat on Thursday, 24 September 2026, calling it a 'hattrick' after Roshibina clinched a silver medal in the Women's Sanda 60 kg event at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

Three Games, Three Podiums — the Sanda streak that defines a career

Roshibina first announced herself on the continental stage at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, earning a medal in Sanda that put Indian Wushu on the map. She returned to the podium at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, underlining that the first result was no fluke. The Aichi-Nagoya 2026 silver is the third chapter — and the one that cements her legacy as the most decorated Indian Wushu competitor in Asian Games history.

Thakur's post captured the arithmetic of that achievement with a single word: 'Hattrick!' He added that the win is 'a noteworthy achievement for the future generations,' framing it as a benchmark, not just a result.

Wushu's quiet rise in India's continental medal count

Wushu — a martial art encompassing both the performance-based Taolu and the combat-format Sanda — has emerged as one of India's more reliable medal sources at the Asian Games despite operating almost entirely outside the mainstream spotlight. Manipur, Roshibina's home state, has been the engine of that growth, producing a disproportionate share of the country's Wushu talent through a combination of grassroots culture and dedicated state-level infrastructure.

For the discipline's practitioners, a silver in the 60 kg Sanda category at a senior Asian Games is the pinnacle of the competitive calendar — Wushu does not currently feature at the Olympics. That makes Roshibina's hat-trick uniquely meaningful: there is no higher stage, and she has stood on its podium three times running.

A minister who tracked the journey — and why that matters

Thakur served as Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports from 2021 to 2024, a tenure that overlapped with the Hangzhou Games and the broader push to expand India's sporting infrastructure beyond cricket. His congratulatory post carries institutional memory — he is not simply a politician reacting to a trending result but someone who watched Wushu athletes navigate the national sports ecosystem from the inside. The public acknowledgement also signals continued political visibility for athletes in disciplines that rarely generate headline sponsorship or broadcast deals.

With India's final medal tally at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 still being compiled, Roshibina's silver stands as one of the Games' early defining moments for the Indian contingent — proof that consistency at the top is possible even in the sports the cameras rarely find.