CHENNAI: The faces around Joshna Chinappa have changed with every Asian Games cycle. Teammates have retired and rivals have faded away, yet as the countdown to the 2026 Asian Games begins, the 39year-old is still going strong. Twenty-four years after making her maiden appearance as a teenager at Busan 2002, Joshna is set to make a record seventh appearance at the continent’s biggest sporting spectacle, making her the Indian sportsperson with the most appearances at the continental multi-sport event.When she takes the court in Aichi-Nagoya this September, Joshna will overtake squash player Saurav Ghosal who she was tied with six Asian Games appearances at Hangzhou four year ago. Joshna’s fellow Chennai-ite, paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal has five appearances alongwith tennis legend, Leander Paes.“Normally, longevity in sport is seen often among men, and for women it is not easy. Yet Joshna has managed to keep going and ensure that she continues to play at the highest level. She is not just representing the country, but also competing for medals and performing exceptionally well,” Sharath, deputy chef de mission for the Indian contingent at the upcoming Asiad, told TOI on Monday. “I know what it takes to stay fit after a certain age, and it is not easy. She keeps saying, ‘Sharath, how do you do it (staying fit)?’ Now I feel like, ‘OK, how do you do this?’ The older she gets, the fitter she is getting,” Sharath added.Right from when she became India’s youngest National champion at 14 years in 2001, Joshna’s mantra has been simple. “I just think of one match at a time and not beyond that,” she would say with a smile — be it her comeback from knee surgery or her plans for the future.That simple response has remained unchanged and it helped her return to where she belongs at the elite level today. A former world no 10, she broke into the top-100 in the world rankings once again and is currently India’s second-highest ranked player behind Delhi girl Anahat Singh.“I was playing pretty decent after my surgery and then thought why not continue and see if there is something left in me. I have been very focused on just training and playing for the past few years and that is what has helped me,” Joshna, a fivetime Asian Games medallist, said after winning all her matches in the Asiad trials on Sunday.But Joshna’s path has been far from smooth. She underwent surgery twice, the most recent being a major knee operation on her right leg in Dec 2023, shortly after the Hangzhou Asiad. The injury left Joshna facing one of the toughest challenges of her career. She could easily have walked away, having already achieved much success, but she chose otherwise. What truly sets Joshna apart is her fighting spirit, a trait that enables her to excel in an intensely demanding sport. In typical fashion, the veteran fought her way back, winning her first PSA Challenger title in more than a decade in 2025 and later was part of the World Cup-winning team.