State trio clinch Sanda gold medals at World Junior Wushu Championships

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 30 : State trio etched their names in Indian wushu history as they claimed top spots in Sanda competition at the 10th World Junior Wushu Championships being underway in Tianjin.
Securing gold medals for India at the prestigious event hosted by China under the auspices of the International Wushu Federation are Thongam Upendro (45 kg), Nongmaithem Pamheiba (52 kg) and Loitongbam Victor (52 kg).
State wushu player Konthoujam Devikarani had also won India two Taolu medals- one silver in Taijijian and one bronze in Taijiquan event.
Manipur’s Rajkumari Lanchenbi also settled for a bronze medal in the Changquan event.
As many as 16 athletes from Manipur were part of the National contingent at the championships.
Upendro, son of Thongam Premkumar and Thongam Nanao Leima of Thoubal Wangma Taba, won the gold medal today by defeating Abdullokh Rakhmanov of Uzbekistan in the final bout.
Upendro outlasted Emir Nurutdinov of Ukraine in the quarterfinals before getting better of Grisha Alikhayan of Armenia in the semis to book his final ticket.
Upendro Thongam is a cadet at the Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC), Shillong and has represented Manipur and India at various competitions, our Thoubal Correspondent reported.