‘I continued to fight till the end and use my strategies correctly’: How fencer Bhavani Devi beat the reigning World champion | More sports News – Times of India

In 2008, when CA Bhavani Devi couldn’t find a source to fund her participation in the junior Asian Fencing Championships in Korea, she put in a request to the late J Jayalalithaa, who also served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. She invited Bhavani and gave her a cheque. Fifteen years from that day, appearing in the senior version of the same tournament, Bhavani created history — winning India’s first ever Asian Championships medal in fencing, a bronze.
Her mind must have wandered back to that day, sending another note of thanks to Jayalalithaa up in the heavens, like she must have done after becoming the first Indian fencer to feature at the Olympics in 2021.

But this win, in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi, was special in more than one way.
En route to the semifinals, where the 29-year-old Bhavani lost to Uzbekistan’s Zaynab Dayibekova in a controversial finish to settle for bronze, the Indian beat the reigning world champion Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarters.
“I knew it’s going to be a tough match, and for me to finish on the podium I needed to beat her (Emura),” said Bhavani talking to TimesofIndia.com from Wuxi. “At the last Asian Championships, I had lost to her in the pre-quarterfinals.”
Daughter of a priest, Bhavani’s talent was spotted by coach Sagar Lagu in 2007, who then took her to the Sports Authority of India’s training centre in Thalassery, Kerala. In 2008, she went on to become the Under-17 national gold medallist.
At the 2017 Tournoi Satellite Fencing Championship held in Reykjavik, Iceland, she became the first Indian fencer to win a gold medal at a world event.

(ANI Photo)
Bhavani went on to train under Italian coach Nicola Zanotti before shifting her base to France post the Tokyo Games, where she currently trains under Christian Bauer.
“It’s totally different for me from (training under) Zanotti; the style, the positions, the strategies. Christian Bauer, with whom I am currently working, is one of the best in the world. He has worked with the Chinese, Italian and Russia teams, and in all the Olympics (in which) they won gold medals he was their coach,” Bhavani further told TimesofIndia.com.
She is still admittedly trying to adjust to the new techniques and strategies.
“To be consistent with the new change and the new strategies is a difficult task. I am still working on that and happy that today it has worked out. I was able to be on the podium (at the Asian Championships).”
Bhavani hadn’t beaten Emura in their three previous meetings. But the notes taken by the Indian after those defeats came in handy in Wuxi.

(PTI Photo)
“I remembered some of the mistakes I had committed then. I tried to not repeat those mistakes. I had some strategies that I cannot explain in detail. I did not know whether I would succeed in that strategy and win or not, but I continued to fight till the end, use my strategies correctly, not making big mistakes, like last time. I did that and it worked out,” Bhavani told TimesofIndia.com.
The semifinal between Bhavani and Dayibekova was fought tooth and nail, ending in controversial fashion.
At 14-14, Bhavani was shown a red card for moving early after the referee called ‘Allez’ (term used to signal start/restart) and Bhavani’s request for a video referral was turned down as she felt that both she and Dayibekova had moved together.
“Actually, we both already had yellow cards…It was 14-14, and we both moved before the referee said ‘Allez’. That’s what I felt, like little movement. But he said I moved and gave me a red card. I said ‘No, check the video, we both moved together’. If he had accepted my request and confirmed that we both moved, then the point would have been cancelled and we would fence again. But he didn’t accept my video request. He said ‘there was no blade contact, so I cannot check the video’.
“All the coaches from other countries, who were watching, said that you both moved together, sorry for your loss…It’s a little hard for me to accept that, but I take all positive things from this competition,” Bhavani said.
Bhavani believes a medal at the Asian Championships shows that things have improved since her maiden Olympics appearance two years ago, when she lost in the second round in Tokyo.
She also credits that to the top-level competitive environment at the club in France where she trains under Bauer.
“After Tokyo, I moved to France….We have top athletes in our club – the World No. 1 in men’s sabre, World No. 5, World No. 3 and 11 in women’s sabre. All very tough and competitive opponents in training. So our training itself is (a kind of) mental training…Of course, we do some work on the mental aspects. I cannot explain that in detail but we are working on that as well.”