It is not everyday that recognition and felicitation ceremonies come knocking at her door. While many of her previous achievements went unheralded, this time the phone hasn’t stop ringing and the felicitation ceremonies haven’t ceased to please her. “It was an ecstatic moment for me. I relish all the accolades coming my way. More importantly, people are willing to know the game and show interest in it,” says Wangkhem Sandhyarani Devi, silver medallist in the women’s wushu 60kg event at the Asian Games.
Coach Rajveer Singh is proud of his ward and reasserts that Sandhyarani will win more honours for the country. “First of all, an injury took its toll on her in the final. Secondly, Sandhya is a 56kg wushu practitioner and she competed in the 60 kg event. But her opponent (world champion Khadijeh Azadpour of Iran) is normally a competitor in the 66 kg category. So while Sandhya had to gain weight, the Iranian lost weight. All this went against her,” says Rajveer.
But this dogged Manipuri CRPF jawan wants to enjoy the moment and says she wants a redemption match when she is in better shape.
Excerpts from an interview...
On winning a silver medal in wushu at the Asian Games
I believe it is a fantastic achievement on my part and that of Bimoljit Singh (men’s wushu bronze medallist in the 60kg category). We have worked hard for the past one year. Now, there is a sense of tremendous contentment that our efforts have finally paid dividends. Since wushu is not part of the Olympics, winning a medal in the Asian Games is a really satisfying experience.
On the level of competition
Although there were no Chinese fighters in my event, the Iranians and Koreans gave me a tough fight. I feel that there is no difference in physical and mental makeup between them and us. But they are far ahead in terms of technique.
On carrying an injury into the final
In my five-year long career, I have been injured very few times. Unfortunately, I injured my left leg in my Asian Games quarterfinal bout. In the semifinal, I aggravated this injury and it was in a very bad state in the final. In fact, after winning the quarterfinal in the evening, I could only get medical treatment at midnight since there was no specialist doctor in our team. If I could have moved my left leg in the final, I would have won. If I meet the same opponent in future, I will want to avenge this loss.
On her preparations for Asiad
I started preparations for the Asian Games last year. I watched videos on the Internet and purchased CDs from the other countries to analyse the technique of other fighters. But at the Asian games, I was shocked to see that whatever technique I had learnt had become obsolete as the other contenders had improved and improvised with new methods.
On the lack of awareness about wushu in India
In our country, there is not much awareness about wushu. People are pretty ignorant about the sport, there is no specialised arena for the sport, leave alone the secondary facilities. While wushu exponents from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal go for exposure trips and are well connected with all the major developments in the sport, we are denied such opportunities.
On her future plans
We are progressing steadily. We lack experience and never go abroad for training. A few exposure trips would do us a lot of good. I want to compete against more Chinese players as they are the best in the sport. I don’t make any long-term plans.
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