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What's the story?
India's rising fencing star Bhavani Devi has achieved her career best ranking today, surging to an impressive No. 36, the highest for any Indian woman in her category. Earlier today, she tweeted ecstatically about the promising development, thanking her coaches for the feat.
She also expressed her feelings on Facebook, after her loss at the World Fencing Championship 2017 being currently held in Leipzig, Germany. She lost to France's Berder Cecilia by a slim 14-15 margin.
She added, "Tough fight and hard defeat. At the end, we need to accept and move on. On the other hand, it is a pleasure to update you all that this season I am ranked 36th in the world. I had both good and bad moments, from which I had takeaways."
In case you didn't know
One of the most promising fencers from India currently, Bhavani is part of the Rahul Dravid mentorship programme by GoSports foundation and also a recipient of the five-year "Elite Scheme" provided by Tamil Nadu government. She has won medals at both the age-group competitions and at the senior level in Commonwealth, Asian and international tournaments.
Apart from winning laurels around the world, Bhavani is also currently enrolled in an MBA programme in St. Joseph Engineering College, Chennai.
The heart of the matter
This career high ranking for the fencer comes on the back of the most recent highlight of her career. The Chennai born girl won gold at the Turnoi Satellite Fencing Championship held at Reykjavik (Iceland) in May 2017.
In the final, she defeated Great Britain's Sarah Jane Hampson, outclassing her 15-13. Two times before this, Bhavani had earlier bowed out at the quarter-finals stage of this tournament.
The most impressive aspect of the win was the fact that it made Bhavani the first Indian to win a gold medal at an international fencing event. Others, like Bhavani herself, had earlier won medals at the Commonwealth and Asian levels
What's Next?
After the recent successes, Bhavani has expressed the desire to repeat her performance at an even bigger stage, and win a medal for the country at the 2020 Olympics, scheduled to be held in Tokyo.
Earlier, despite claiming to be undeterred by fluctuating rankings, Bhavani has also talked about wanting to break into the top 10 of the world rankings.
Author's Take
The many achievements of Bhavani Devi in a sport which does not have a lot of visibility in the country constitute an inspiring tale. We hope that her continued success will inspire many others and ensure that young aspiring fencers won't have to face the difficulties she faced during her initial days in the sport.
