Image courtesy: SAI
India’s ace fencer CA Bhavani Devi secured the country’s first-ever medal at the Asian Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China. Bhavani lost to Uzbekistan’s Zaynab Dayibekova in a tightly contested semi-final, thus contending with a bronze medal. Her historic win is a landmark moment in the history of Indian fencing — a sport which is still in its developmental phase in the country. Fencing is a highly strategic combat sport in which two fencers engage in a simulated sword fight using specialised weapons. It is a physically and intellectually demanding sport that requires considerable speed, agility, precision, and mental acumen. Based on the type of weapon used and the target area, fencing is mainly categorised in three types — foil, epee and sabre. Foil is a lightweight weapon with a blunted tip, and the target area in foil fencing is limited to the torso. Epee is a heavier and stiffer weapon with a larger guard and a triangular blade, and the target area in epee fencing is the entire body. Sabre is a light, slightly curved weapon with a cutting edge. The target area in this relatively faster version is the entire body over the waist. In all the three categories, points are awarded to the fencers on the basis of the number of touches they make on the opponent's target area with the tip of their weapons. CA Bhavani has been holding the bastion for India in sabre fencing for well over a decade. Introduced to the sport as an 11-year-old in 2004, Bhavani, despite all odds, has remained dedicated to the sport. There was a time in 2014 when Bhavani was mulling over giving up the sport due to financial constraints, but credit to her resilience and sensible sponsors, she stayed — to bring glory to herself and the nation. Given the limited recognition the sport enjoys in India, Bhavani’s achievements can be said to be less personal and more national. She has been making small but significant strides all throughout, crossing milestones not just for herself but for Indian fencing in general. “CA Bhavani creates history” has been a regular phrase over the last decades. In 2018, she defeated England’s Emily Ruaux 15-12 in the final of Commonwealth Senior and Veteran Championships, held in Canberra, to win India’s first gold medal in the event. In 2021, Bhavani Devi became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics. Unfortunately, her Olympic campaign in Tokyo had ended after her defeat to fourth-seeded Manon Brunet of France in the second round. As a fencer who has consistently kept herself under-50 rankings, Bhavani Devi dreams of beating top-seeded fencers across the world. There is no doubt that she has been living this dream brilliantly. As Bhavani won India’s first-ever medal at the Asian Fencing Championships on Monday, she could not stop herself from expressing the significance of her win over the reigning World Champion Misaki Emura in the quarterfinal. In Bhavani’s own words, “beating Misaki was huge because she is a good and consistent fencer. I had lost in the round of 16 to Misaki in the previous Asians, but I had a plan this time and it worked.” In a country where sports other than cricket, hockey, badminton and a few others, have been ignored all throughout, to thrive and survive in lesser-known sports is a challenge in itself. It is only after an athlete survives this massive challenge; he/she gets the chance of competing against the world’s best athletes. Ostensibly, greater focus has been accorded to a range of lesser-known sports over the past couple of years, but the road ahead is still very long and full of hurdles. All credit goes to geniuses like CA Bhavani who have been braving all odds in amassing pioneering achievements in global sports that are not yet popular in India. Bhavani, however, passes the credit to her parents, and rightly so, not just due to emotional bonding but because of their tacit support all throughout. It must have been a brave and wise decision to allow one’s teen to foray into a physically threatening sporting discipline where the prospects of reward and recognition were very limited. Bhavani and the people who have stood by her side from the beginning deserve to be congratulated and thanked for the glory the fencer has brought to India.