Olympic dream comes true for Tamil Nadu’s Bhavani

CHENNAI: For a sixth standard student who chose the sport as a mean to escape from the grind of studies, this is a remarkable achievement. Considering the fact that fencing is always looked at as a fence-sitter among sports in India, this accomplishment can be called pioneering.  Funding was never easy initially.

This time last year, Indian fencer CA Bhavani Devi was forced to leave Belgium and rush back home due to the pandemic. Almost a year after the Covid-19 outbreak had thrown her qualification plans in disarray, Bhavani became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics. Training in Livorno and shuttling between Greece and Italy, the Tamil Nadu fencer had left for Belgium for a training camp just a day before the Italian government had announced nationwide lockdown in March 2020.

She made it to India in time before travel restrictions were put in place in the country. Even during lockdown she kept herself fit and took to first flight out to Italy for training. The sabre fencer though lost in the round of 64 to Hungary’s Renata Katona 15-10 at the World Cup held in Budapest from March 11 to 14 but made the Olympic cut due to the Adjusted Official Ranking method.

As many as two individual spots were up for grabs for the Asia and Oceania region based on the World Rankings as of April 5, 2021. Bhavani is ranked 42nd and grabs one of the two available slots based on the ranking. South Korea helped her too as they defeated the hosts Hungary in the quarterfinal in the World Cup and ranked ahead of them in the team event, which was needed for the 27-year-old fencer to qualify. 

“Making an Olympic cut through individual ranking is a big achievement in fencing as only six quotas were up for grabs across the globe,” SAI coach Sagar Lagu told this daily fro Budapest. Lagu had trained Bhavani at the SAI centre in Thalassery, Kerala from 2008 to 2015.

“We will reach New Delhi on Tuesday and leave for Rudrapur, Uttarakhand next day for the nationals scheduled there from March 19 to 21. She will leave for Italy after participating in the nationals,” added Lagu. Bhavani failed to qualify for Rio Olympics but put in extra yards under Italian coach Nicola Zanotti to come back stronger.

She won gold at the Women’s World Cup Satellite event in Iceland in 2017 and went on to become the first fencer from the country to win a yellow metal in the Commonwealth Championships in Australia in 2018. 
“She will continue to train Italy till the Olympics with her foreign coach. She may compete in a few events if the international federation announces calendar,” said the coach. She is funded by the Tamil Nadu government.