All the four Indian wushu players lost their semi-final bouts to settle for bronze medals, on Wednesday, but ensured that the country produced its best ever performance in the Asian Games.
Naorem Roshibina Devi, Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Partap Singh and Narender Grewal lost their Sanda event semifinal bouts but in the process gave the Indian team an unprecedented four medals in the Asian Games.
Before this edition, India had taken part in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games and this four medal haul has been the best so far. In 2014 Incheon, India had won two bronze, with Grewal clinching one in men's Sanda 60kg.
Thus 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 semifinals 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 semifinal bout.
Any hopes of an Indian wushu player appearing in the finals tomorrow went up in smokes as Partap Singh (men's Sanda 60kg) and Grewal (men's Sanda 65kg) lost their semifinal bouts.
Partap Singh lost to Erfan Ahangarian 0-2 while Grewal was beaten by Akmal Rakhimov of Uzbekistan by the same margin.
Indian team coach Ravi Prakash Tripathi said training in China ahead of the Asian Games has helped the players improve their performance.
"We came here straight from China. We trained there for one month. They have Grade 1 coaches, who helped our players. The government and SAI helped us by funding these training trips and including our athletes in TOPS," Tripathi, who is based at NIS Patiala, said.
