Tokyo Olympics 2020: Fencer Bhavani Devi edging closer to fulfilling Olympic dream

India's hopes for a rare Olympic medal in fencing are allowed to rise currently with Bhavani Devi delivering one exceptional performance after the other. The Tamil Nadu-born Devi has been a consistently good fencer and her recent flourish at Fencing Sabre World Cup in Utah where she finished at the 38th position is causing the right ripples of excitement. Devi succumbed to a defeat at the hands of World No. 46 Seo Jiyeon of Korea in a tight match. Devi had previously been victorious in all the group stage matches and went down to Jiyeon by 12-15 in a Round of 64 encounter.

The star fencer from India, Bhavani Devi was born into a middle-class family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father was a priest and her mother a homemaker. Beginning her fencing career in 2003, Devi has achieved the heights in her career with a silver medal in Ghent (Belgium) on September 29 this year. She is extremely hopeful of qualifying for the Olympics with several tournaments lined up till end-March next year to guarantee her entry. She bagged the bronze medal in the women’s Sabre category of the Tournoi Satellite fencing tournament in Iceland only the next week. The 26-year-old Indian finished joint third alongside Hong Kong’s Au Sin Ying, with two points.

Bhavani Devi has won bronze medals in 2009 Commonwealth Championships held in Malaysia, 2010 International Open, the 2010 Cadet Asian Championship, the 2012 Commonwealth Championship, Jersey and 2015 Under-23 Asian Championship, and 2015 Flemish Open. In the 2014 Asian Championship under-23 category in the Philippines, she bagged the silver medal becoming the first Indian to achieve that feat.

Also read: Fencing: The breakout of Bhavani Devi and her Tokyo 2020 chances

Devi has been delivering a string of some phenomenal performances and her recent stint at Salt Lake City, Utah is enough to guarantee her as the top bet for an Olympic quota in fencing. Having finished at the 38th place, Devi will be given a 2-ranking point. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu also finished 40th in the French World Cup. Next in line for the Olympics aspirant will be the Sabre Grand Prix in Canada as she stems closer to seizing her Tokyo dream.