India's Rajkumari Lanchenbi Chanu and Mexico's Samantha Rojas will both compete in the women's changquan combined when wushu makes its Youth Olympic debut in Dakar from 1 to 3 November.

With the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games opening on 31 October, the athletes who will write the first chapter of wushu's Olympic story are coming into focus. Two of them, India's Rajkumari Lanchenbi Chanu and Mexico's Samantha Rojas, will meet in the same event: the women's changquan combined.

Manipur's latest taolu talent

Rajkumari Lanchenbi Chanu comes from Manipur, the north-eastern state that has produced many of India's leading wushu athletes. She is part of India's 17-member contingent for Dakar and is entered in the women's changquan combined.

Her recent record includes a bronze medal in the girls' youth changquan at the 10th World Junior Wushu Championships in Tianjin, China, in March 2026, and a gold medal in the girls' taolu at the 25th Sub-Junior National Wushu Championship in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. She follows in the footsteps of fellow Manipuri athletes such as Naorem Roshibina Devi, the first Indian wushu athlete to win medals at three consecutive Asian Games.

Mexico's sole wushu representative

Samantha Rojas, from the northern state of Nuevo León, is the only wushu athlete in Mexico's 62-strong Youth Olympic team, which competes across 19 sports in Senegal. A taolu specialist, she has gained international experience at youth Pan American championships, where her results include a bronze medal in qiangshu (spear) in the Junior B category.

Four titles on the line

Wushu makes its debut as an official medal sport at the Youth Olympic Games, with four gold medals awarded in boys' and girls' changquan combined and taijiquan combined. Around 48 athletes from 47 countries and regions are expected to take part. The competition runs from 1 to 3 November at the Dakar Expo Center (DEX), with preliminary rounds on 1 and 2 November and the finals on 3 November.

EUWUSHU.TV will follow the wushu competition in Dakar from the first routine to the final medal ceremony.

Sources: RevSportz, The Bridge, TV Azteca, Infobae, CGTN, IWUF.

Photo: IWUF

Read more on revsportz.in