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Karan Singh Gurjar was once listed as one of the most promising fencers to look out for in the 2023 Asian Games. However, he missed out on the event when the Sports Ministry drafted the final list of Indian athletes set to travel to Hangzhou, China.
The 24-year-old international male sabre fencer from Rajasthan is not one to delve on failures and is eager to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics, provided he makes the cut.
The host nation is not entirely new to Karan, as since October 2021 he has been based out of Orleans, France. He hones his skills at the Christian Bauer Academy and credits the coach's training and techniques to have made him perform better.
In fact, in the past two years he has risen from the mid 200s to the top 100 in the rankings. Currently Karan is competing in the 37th National Games in Goa, where he won silver in the individual sabre event on Monday.
Post the tournament, he will fly back to France to compete in the Algeria World Cup from November 8 to November 10. He is currently ranked world no.68 and he is aiming to be in the top 30 by the Paris Olympics qualification cut-off date of April 1, 2024
"Fencing has close to one season left as we have six months and more than 9-10 tournaments in the circuit. I will try to qualify by the world ranking format," Karan told the Bridge
He also has the option of qualifying for the Olympics if he wins the upcoming Asia & Oceania zonal tournament.
Karan Singh Gurjar's meteoric rise up the rankings
Karan Singh's rise to the top hasn't been without its struggles. Moving to France in 2021 was a big step for him as he struggled with funding. After moving to France to train under Christian Bauer, Karan has witnessed a meteoric rise in the sport.
In 2022, then 61st seed Karan Singh defeated 14th seed Mao Kokubo of Japan 15-11 in the first round of the World Fencing Championships.
In 2023, he defeated world No. 7 Maximme Pianfetti in the Round of 64 at the Fencing Sabre World Cup. It was his first win over a top-10 player.
He reached a ranking of world no.61 and became India's highest ranked fencer in the Sabre event, leading second-placed Gisho Nidhi by 27 places. Karan talked about training in France and how that helped him improve his game.
"There are quite some differences between training in India and France. I get a lot of opponents in France to train with which is not the case in India," Karan said in an chat with The Bridge
The Algeria World Cup will be a major milestone for Karan Singh as he looks to improve his ranking and qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
With training centres like the Madhya Pradesh Academy and ASI Pune helping young fencers train effectively, many upcoming talents are looking up to fencers like Karan Singh Gurjar and Bhavani Devi as role models.
