A young woman from the remote Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh will step onto one of Asia’s biggest sporting stages on Monday morning — and this time, nobody is standing in her way.
Nyeman Wangsu, the wushu prodigy who was cruelly denied her Asian Games debut in 2023 due to the stapled visa controversy, is set to compete in the Women’s Changquan final at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The event kicks off at 5:30 AM IST on September 21 at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall — and for Wangsu, every second of it will carry the weight of years.
Changquan, for the uninitiated, is a spectacular form of wushu — full of aerial kicks, long stances, and flowing movements that demand both explosive power and near-perfect precision. It is a direct medal event, which means Wangsu walks into that hall with a genuine shot at bringing a medal home for India and for Arunachal Pradesh.
The story of how she got here is not a simple one.
Wangsu was selected to represent India at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, back in 2023. She had earned it fair and square. But athletes from Arunachal Pradesh were issued stapled visas by China — a diplomatic slight that effectively barred them from competing on Chinese soil. Wangsu, through no fault of her own, was left watching from the sidelines while the rest of the contingent went ahead.
That kind of setback could break a person. It didn’t break her.
A three-time National Games gold medallist, Wangsu returned to training and kept pushing. In April 2026, she travelled to Moscow for the Moscow Wushu Star international championship and came back with three silver medals. That kind of performance on the international stage speaks for itself. She was not going to let one bureaucratic disaster define her career.
Now hailing from Kanubari in Longding district, she becomes the first wushu athlete from Arunachal Pradesh to qualify for the Asian Games twice — a record in its own right, even before Monday’s competition begins.
She will not be alone in representing the state at these Games, either. Taekwondo athlete Rupa Bayor from Upper Subansiri district is also part of the Indian contingent and is set to compete in the poomsae semifinal on October 1. Bayor, currently ranked second in Asia and seventh in the world, won bronze at the 2026 Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships and was Asia’s top-ranked poomsae athlete earlier this year. Arunachal Pradesh is punching well above its weight at these Games.
The 20th Asian Games opened at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Aichi-Nagoya on September 19 and run through to October 4, featuring athletes across 43 sports. Those in India can watch the action live on the Sony Sports Network and the SonyLIV app.
As for Wangsu — she arrives at this final not as an underdog, but as someone who has earned every right to stand on that floor. She trained through heartbreak, competed internationally, and refused to quietly disappear. Whatever the scoreboard says at the end of Monday morning, one thing is already clear: Arunachal Pradesh sent its best, and its best came ready to fight.
