Bhavani Devi bags women's individual sabre gold at Senior Nationals Fencing Championship

Olympian Bhavani Devi clinched the gold medal in the women's Individual Sabre category of the 33rd Senior National Fencing Championship held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Sunday. 

It proved to be a day of double delight for Bhavani Devi, as her team Tamil Nadu, also won the gold in the Women’s Sabre Team event, outplaying Kerala 45-34 in the final.

In the women's sabre individual category, Bhavani Devi, who holds the record for being the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics, clinched her 11th national title after she outplayed V Sunny Alka of Kerala 15-9 in a pulsating summit clash. Bhavani stormed into the final by prevailing over Punjab’s Jagmeet Kaur 15-11, while V Sunny Alka got the better of Haryana’s Aakhiri in another semi-final 15-9.

Bhavani Devi got a walk-over in the round of 64 and then she defeated Ritu Prajapati 15-3 in a lop-sided contest in round of 32. In the pre-quarters, she managed to stamp her authority as she outclassed Punjab’s Husanpreet Kaur 15-2. In the quarter-finals, Rishika Khajuria was once again no match for the Olympian, who easily won by 15-7.

In the Senior Women’s Foil category, Kerala’s Radhika Awati won the gold medal, beating state-mate VP Kanagalakshmi 15-8. Radhika had defeated Jammu and Kashmir’s Riya Bakshi 15-6 in the first semi-final, while Kanagalakshmi got the better of Manipur’s Mina Naorem 15-7 in the second semi-final.

In the women’s Sabre Team category, Tamil Nadu comprising Bhavani Devi, JS Jefarlin, M Tamil Selvi, M R Beni Quebha, won the gold medal after outclassing Kerala 45-34 in the final.The Kerala team comprised Christy Jose Jona, Reesha Puthussary, S Sowmiya, V Sunny Alka.

Meanwhile, in the Men’s Foil Individual Category, Manipur’s Hemash Sanasam won the gold medal after he defeated Ismile Khan (SSCB) in the final 13-12, which went down the wire. Sanasam had marched into the final after overcoming the challenge of Bihar’s Akash Kumar (15-13), while Ismile Khan, who ended as runner-up, made it to the summit clash by defeating Haryana’s Dev 15-14 in another semi-final.