Olympian C A Bhavani Devi on June 19 created history by progressing to the semifinal of the women’s sabre event at the Asian Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China, bringing India its maiden medal at the event. She won a historic bronze medal at the championship.
Bhavani stunned reigning world champion Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarterfinals to script history. Misaki had won the women’s sabre gold medal at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in Cairo. Bhavani had never beaten the Japanese fencer in their past three meetings on the piste.
In the semifinal, Bhavani was up against Uzbekistan’s Zaynab Dayibekova. The 29-year-old fencer received a bye in the round of 64 before beating Dospay Karina of Kazakhstan in the next round. She then upset third seed Ozaki Seri of Japan 15-11 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Bhavani Devi, who became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics, exited in the round of 32 at the Tokyo Games. She has moved to France to train under sabre master Christian Bauer, who has coached many athletes to Olympic medals. The list includes individual fencers such as Aldo Montano and Zhong Man, to the Chinese women’s sabre team and Russian sabre fencers.
