Fencer Bhavani Devi, who formed history at the Tokyo Olympics by being the first Indian to compete in the sport at the Games, won the Charlellville National Competition in France in the individual women’s sabre event.
The 28-year-old fencer had tweeted about the same. “Won the Charlellville National Competition, France in the Women’s Sabre individual. Many thanks to coach Christian Bauer, Arnaud Schneider, and all teammates. Congratulations to all for a great start of the season,” she tweeted after winning the competition.
She had won her round of 64 match 15-3 against Tunisia’s Nadia Ben Azizi before going down to eventual bronze-medallist, Manon Brunet of France in the round of 32, at the Tokyo Olympics.
Bhavani was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father was a Telugu person from Samalkot town in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh who eventually shifted to Chennai.
Her father was a Hindu priest and her mother was a homemaker, C A Bhavani Devi began her sports career in 2003. She did her schooling at Muruga Dhanushkodi Girls Higher Secondary, Chennai.
She attended the St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai and went on to pursue Business Administration from Government Brennen College in Thalassery, Kerala.
In 2004, she was introduced to fencing at school level. After completing class 10 she joined the SAI (Sports Authority of India) Centre in Thalassery, Kerala.
At the age of 14 she appeared at her first international tournament in Turkey, where she got a black card for being late by three minutes. In 2010 Asian Championship in the Philippines she bagged the Bronze medal.
She is eyeing a good show at the 2022 Asian Games and has started preparing for the multi-discipline sporting extravaganza. She is currently ranked 50th in the world and is the top-ranked fencer from India.
