A fighter who has now stood on the Asian Games podium in three straight editions — 2018, 2022, and 2026 — walked into a meeting with a Union Minister on Saturday, 26 September 2026, and made history look almost routine. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju met Naorem Roshibina Devi following her return from the 2026 Asian Games, congratulating her on winning the Silver Medal in Wushu Women's Sanda 60kg — a feat that makes her the first Indian Wushu athlete to medal at three consecutive Asian Games.

Three Games, three medals — and a record that stands alone

The arithmetic of Roshibina's career is staggering in its consistency. A Bronze in 2018 at the Jakarta-Palembang Games, a Silver in 2022, and now a Silver again in 2026 — each medal earned in the same brutal discipline: Women's Sanda 60kg, the full-contact combat format of Wushu where bouts are decided by strikes, throws, and sheer nerve. No other Indian Wushu competitor has climbed the podium across three Asian Games cycles. She now owns that record outright.

Rijiju, posting under #Cheer4Bharat, described the meeting warmly and highlighted the triple-medal arc, underscoring that this achievement places Roshibina Devi in a class of her own within Indian combat sports.

Manipur's combat-sports pipeline and India's push for niche medals

Naorem Roshibina Devi hails from Manipur, a state that has long punched above its weight in combat and contact disciplines — from boxing to Wushu. India's broader push to diversify its Asian Games medal haul beyond traditional strongholds has run through dedicated training support for athletes in disciplines like Wushu, with the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), launched in 2014, providing targeted backing to elite competitors in priority sports.

Her consistency across three four-year cycles — surviving the physical toll of a contact sport, the competitive evolution of rivals across Asia, and the administrative gaps that often afflict niche-sport athletes in India — speaks to a rare combination of resilience and institutional support.

What a minister's meeting signals for combat-sport recognition

A personal meeting with a senior Union Cabinet Minister is more than ceremony. It signals that athletes in disciplines outside cricket and Olympic track-and-field are gaining visibility at the highest levels of India's sporting establishment. For Wushu — still awaiting Olympic inclusion — that visibility matters. Recognition from figures like Rijiju, who has historically championed athletes from India's Northeast, can translate into advocacy for better funding, international exposure, and athlete welfare provisions.

For Roshibina, the podium in 2026 is not just a personal milestone. It is a data point in India's slow, deliberate effort to build medalists who return — not athletes who peak once and disappear.

Three Games, three medals. The record is set. The question now is whether the institutions around her can help the next Roshibina not have to wait a decade to be noticed.