As a youngster, Nyeman Wangsu was fascinated watching girls skilfully brandishing swords at a sports academy in Itanagar. Their gliding movements and acrobatics with a weapon in hand were something that she had never seen before. Nyeman, then barely 11, enquired about the sport. She came to know they were practitioners of Wushu – a Chinese martial art that is also a sports discipline.
She did not waste time choosing her field from the array of sports in the academy. Nine years on, Nyeman has established herself as one of India’s finest exponents in Taolu — one of the two disciplines in Wushu — and is set to compete at the Asian Games in September.
Before her first major multi-sporting event, the 20-year-old Nyeman was looking forward to a trip to Chengdu, China for the World University Games but she was among the three Indian athletes from Arunachal Pradesh (Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu were the others) who received stapled visas from China. The entire Indian Wushu team withdrew in protest. China does not recognise Arunachal as an Indian territory and has been issuing stapled visas to its residents.
Nyeman, though disappointed, is not heartbroken. “You feel sad because we were expecting to go there and get some competition before the Asian Games. The entire team did not go and we are there to support each other. We are motivated to do well at the Asian Games,” said national champion Nyeman from her training camp in Srinagar.
Last year she won two medals, including a gold at the International Moscow Wushu Championships in Daoshu, where participants use swords in their routine.
The players have returned to their national camps to train for the Asian Games where they will be eyeing a historic first-ever gold medal from the sport for India. There is a reason for their self-belief. In the past few years, India has taken impressive strides in the sport at the world level.
“We started winning medals at the World and Asian level from 2011 but our athletes were still winning silver and bronze medals. Now in the last two World Championships, India has won gold medals and that has lifted everyone’s morale. The juniors are also making a mark,” says India’s national coach Kuldeep Handoo.
That breakthrough was achieved by Pooja Kadian at the 2017 World Championships, winning the title in the 75kg women’s Sanda event. In 2019, two Indians Praveen Kumar (48kg) and Poonam Khatri (75kg) returned with gold medals in Sanda. India came back from Shanghai with a total of four medals.
There are two disciplines in Wushu and India’s strength is Sanda, an unarmed combat sport that developed from traditional Wushu techniques, primarily making use of punching, kicking, throwing, wrestling and defensive techniques. In Tolou, athletes perform different routines either barehanded or with weapons (choreographed duel/sparring routines and group), highlighting their athletic strengths. Judges evaluate different aspects of a performance, on quality of movements, and degree of difficulty.
The sport has been part of the Asian Games since 1990 and China is at the forefront in its battle for inclusion as an Olympic sport. It will be making its first appearance on an Olympic competition programme at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics. In fact, it came close to making the cut for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“The sport is spreading fast in India and considering that it can be an Olympic sport in the future, we are on the right track,” said Handoo, who is also the first Dronacharya Awardee from the sport. “Earlier it was restricted to the North East but now kids are coming from various parts of North India – Haryana, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir where wushu is increasingly becoming popular among kids,” he said.
Even in the northeast, it was not too well-known as a sporting discipline, said Onilu Tega, who competes in Sanda.
“I started in 2013 but then people used to ask me which sport is this. In the last few years, things have changed as our seniors have won international medals, and now we are always highlighted in local media. So, people talk about us. It is growing in popularity,” said the Nationals Games gold medallist.
She is also part of a strong 13-member squad for the Asian Games. So far, India has won one silver and six bronze, since starting to participate in the event in 2006.
One player who will be aiming to break the gold-medal jinx is Manipur’s Naorem Roshibina Devi who won bronze (Sanda, 60kg) at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
“Winning a medal for the country was the proudest moment for me. It was a memorable experience. But this time I want to return with a gold medal. We have got good training at the national camp and the team bonding is great. We are prepared to come back with the best show at the Asian Games,” she said.
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