India’s CA Bhavani Devi has won a gold medal in the Tournoi Satellite Fencing Championship held in Reykjavik, Iceland. In the finals, she defeated Sarah Jane Hampson of Great Britain by 15-13 points.
Bhavani had also defeated another British fencer Jessica Corby by 15-11 in the semi-final, as per a report in the Financial Express.
The Chennai woman became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the international fencing event. She had earlier won a silver medal in the Satellite Event Championship.
"This is my third time in this competition. I lost in quarterfinals in previous years. Now, I have won my first medal. It is also the first medal in World Level Competition as I have won medals in Asian and Commonwealth championships," Bhavani told PTI from Reykjavik.
She also informed that the competition was quite tough and it became tougher in semi and finals as her British opponents made her struggle to gain the victory.
Bhavani started her career in sabre fencer in the year 2003. Since childhood, she has been into sports and got training for fencing from Sports Authority of India Centre in Thalassery, Kerala. She first took part in an international tournament at the age of 14 in Turkey.
Bhavani is now a trainer at the Sports Authority of India Centre at Thalassery.
In 2009 Commonwealth Championship held in Malaysia, she won a bronze medal. In 2014 Asian Championship held in the Philippines, she became the first Indian in under 23 categories, to get a silver medal. After which she was honoured by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha with rupees three lakhs as a financial aid for getting training in the US.
She was also selected for the Go Sports Foundation for Rahul Dravid athlete mentorship programme. She is now a prospective candidate to represent India in the 2020 Olympics. She has represented India in this unique sport and has brought laurels to the nation.
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