Wushu is a complete martial art, originating from ancient Chinese martial arts. It involves both hard and soft techniques. A hard technique generally requires more strength, defenders need to develop proper blocking skills and precise footwork. It can be used in the attack, defense, or counter-attack. Whereas, with the soft technique, the defender has to use the attacker’s strength to their advantage by using minimal power. It is less physically demanding than the hard technique. International Wushu Federation (IWUF), looks after the sport of wushu across all its formats worldwide. It is located in Lausanne in Switzerland and also has one operational office in Beijing.
The sport competitively has two major disciplines: Taolu and Sanda. Taolu uses patterns of martial arts, some acrobatic movements, and certain techniques and forms like stances, kicks punches, balances jumps, sweeps, and throws, which are given points by the judges and there is a time limit attached to each one of them. Sanda is much more of modern fighting which involves elements of boxing, kickboxing, and wrestling. Sanda has all the combat aspects of a wushu fight. In the competitive sense, both taolu and sanda fights are played out simultaneously during a competition.
How did Wushu come to India?
Wushu in India did arrive back in 1989 through and if you go through the records, it’s one of India’s highest rewarding sports in the Asian Games in terms of winning medals, mainly in the Sanda discipline. Despite the success, the sport and the athletes are yet to enjoy the taste of the limelight and somehow remain undercover.
Once again, during the 2018 edition of the Asian Games, which were held in Jakarta, the Indian wushu athletes ensured four medals for the country, which is an enormous achievement. Though all of them would’ve liked to convert the bronze into silver or gold, this is India’s best performance in wushu at the Asian Games, in terms of the medals won. One of them was, then 17-year-old, Naorem Roshibina Devi, whose journey to the pinnacle of the sport has just started and I’m happy to bring her story to you today.
From a small town in Manipur, to winning a medal at the Asian Games
Naorem Roshibina Devi comes from a place called Bishnupur in Manipur. She comes from a humble background and has had to work very hard to achieve what she has today. Despite pursuing a career in a sport like wushu, which doesn’t draw much attention like some of the other top sports in the country, the youngster is very happy to keep improving herself and make her family and country proud. Naorem generally competes in the 60-kg category in the Sanda discipline, where she has achieved all her success so far. She’s still very young, just 20 years old, and has the necessary grit and perseverance needed to strive for success going forward, not just to play the sport, but to bring out the necessary awareness in society about it as well.
What has she achieved so far and her thoughts on the same
Naorim knows how to win medals and that is something she has done right from the junior level. Her first-ever international achievement came during the Junior Worlds in 2016, where she won a bronze medal.
That was something she says she’ll always remember, especially to see how proud her parents were of her.
“My parents would tell other villagers about my achievement” says Naorim.
Coming from a small place in Manipur, to finally be able to win a medal at something you love doing, was proud but also it gave her a sense of belief that she belongs to the bigger stage and can achieve a lot more.
She gave another happy moment to her family when she won a gold medal at the World Junior wushu championship which was held in Russia.
On the back of the great performance in the Asian Meet where she won a brilliant gold and performing well during the trails, she earned a place in India’s team for the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta. And she did not disappoint.
In the women’s Sanda event, a total of 10 competitors had initially qualified for the event, as the event is limited to the fighters whose body weight had to be less than 60 kilograms.
Naorim 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 by a score of 1-0 to China’s Cai Yingying, but it was an amazing game nonetheless.
A bronze medal in her first-ever appearance is nothing short of an amazing achievement for the youngster, and though she knows she could’ve gotten a gold, it’s just a start and she’ll go strength to strength from here.
“Every player’s dream is to win a gold medal for the country. I am a determined fighter and I will surely make a stronger performance in the future.” Said the 2017 junior Asian wushu champion.
She also mentioned that it is the biggest gift for her family. So far, her family couldn’t watch her fight or even visit her matches, because a sport like wushu doesn’t get broadcasted on the national television much, so she also hoped they were able to watch her semifinal bout somehow.
Why her achievement is special and how can we build on this for future of Wushu in India
The sport has been on the rise in India for the past 7-8 years now. Not only the youngsters like Naorim but other wushu fighters like Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh, and Narender Grewal also won medals and have been leaving their mark on the big stage for quite some time now.
We still lack in terms of having the proper infrastructure to develop our athletes further, and it’ll take someone like Naorim to win a medal at some of the bigger events to draw more attention to the game.
What’s heartening to see is a wushu community being built in the country and slowly a lot more people are taking to the game.
Jammu and Kashmir organize a wushu festival every year, which not a lot of people know of. And it also received a boost when the four medal-winning fighters from the Asian Games joined the party recently.