Top Indian fencers face financial hardship as 2022 Commonwealth Fencing Championship proves expensive

Several top Indian fencers, the majority of whom come from mediocre financial backgrounds, are facing economic hardships after the Commonwealth Fencing Championships (August 9-20) in London proved to be a costly affair.

The reason behind this is that the Fencing Association of India (FAI) had asked the players to pay for the above competition prior to leaving for London.

Nearly a year after Tamil Nadu’s Olympian CA Bhavani Devi emerged as the face of Indian fencing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, several players struggled to shell out ₹2 lakh for competing at the 2022 Commonwealth Fencing Championships.

“We were told at short notice. I had to take a loan to pay an amount of ₹2 lakh to the FAI,” one of the players told Sportskeeda on condition of anonymity. “It will be tough for me to pay back the loan amount as my monthly salary is ₹30,000 and I have to support my family as well.”

The FAI selected a large contingent of 104 members, including 81 fencers in individual and team events, to compete at the championships in London.

“It was difficult for me to arrange for the amount of ₹2 lakh,” a promising fencer said. “I had to take care of my parents and pay for my own expenses.”

Fencing Association of India's financial situation explained

While Rajiv Mehta, secretary general of the FAI didn’t respond to calls, a senior official of the national governing fencing body blamed SAI for not giving financial approval.

Bashir Ahmed Khan, treasurer of the FAI, said that the players were asked to pay before flying out to London.

“The SAI didn’t sanction funds for the Commonwealth Fencing Championships held last month in London. Since the federation didn’t had budget to support a large number of fencers, we asked the players to travel to London at own cost.”

The SAI, however, approved financial assistance to as many as 29 fencers under TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) and to those training at NCOE (National Center of Excellence) as part of the government's international exposure plan.

“Had there been two or three players, the federation could have financially supported the players,” Khan added.

According to Khan, the Commonwealth Fencing Championships was approved under the government's annual calendar and training competition plan. But close to the London competition, SAI informed the federation that it has exhausted its annual ₹5 crore budget.

“We had to issue a circular a week before the Commonwealth Fencing Championships asking the players to go to London at their own cost,” Khan told Sportskeeda.

Despite the championships being a non-ranking event, India’s top fencers opted to compete in the event to gain valuable experience.

“The Commonwealth Fencing Championships is held once every four years. I wanted to test our fitness ahead of 2023 busy year,” a fencer from north India said.

Several fencers also had to face visa issues and missed individual events.

“I could only compete in a team competition because my visa application was approved late. I arrived in London on August 18 to compete in a team event only as my individual competition was over,” one of the competitors said.

Bhavani made the sport popular by becoming the first ever Indian to qualify for the Olympic Games. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games held last year in Japan, Bhavani competed in women’s sabre event and lost in the second round.

“Bhavani has support from SAI as well as private sponsors. Many others are not that lucky,” a teenage fencer said.