Over the years, Indian athletes have brought home medals from international competitions in certain sports like freestyle wrestling, badminton, and shooting. This Asian Games in Indonesia has been no different as Indian sportspersons in wrestling and shooting have emerged victorious.
However, on Day 4, India's medal tally was increased by four medals from an unlikely source - the Chinese sport of Wushu Sanda, a form of kickboxing.
Four Indian Wushu boxers -- Narender Grewal, Naorem Roshibini Devi, Santosh Kumar, and Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh -- lost their semi-final matches but won bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games.
What is Wushu Sanda?
Wushu Sanda (also known as Sanshou) is a Chinese free-form combat sport which is a combination of Muay Thai, kick-boxing and boxing. In Wushu, competitors can use their hands or feet to strike blows on the opponent but cannot use their elbows or knees to land shots.
Each match has three rounds with one round going for two minutes. Competitors are placed against each other according to weight classes, much like boxing or wrestling. In the 2018 Asian Games, there are four weight classes for the men - 56 kg, 60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, while the women's category has two weight classes - 52 kg and 60 kg.
Points are awarded to strikes to the body or the head, while a competitor can win via knockout as well. The opponent can't be hit on the head if he is down, or to the back of the head or neck at any point of time.
India's success in Wushu at the 2018 Asian Games
India produced their best ever showing in Wushu at the ongoing Asian Games when they won four bronze medals, two more than their tally at the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon.
Narender Grewal once again won a bronze, repeating his heroics at the 2014 Asian Games,
While 22-year-old Bhanu Pratap Singh was the big success story, winning bronze in the 60 kg category. The youngster comes from Jammu, where Wushu was a way for people like him to get away from the unrest that lies in the region. The image of the tournament so far has been Bhanu Pratap being carried out of the arena by his opponent, Iran's Erfan Ahangarian, after the Indian injured himself.
17-year-old Naorem Roshibini Devi has been another huge positive for India at the Asian Games, finishing just one point short of a place in the final of the 60 kg women's Sanda competition. The daughter of a farmer, Devi was given a chance to represent India at the Asian Games after putting up noteworthy performances in recent competitions.
