While the nation was yet to settle with the incredible performance of Indian athletes at Commonwealth Games 2022, ace fencer CA Bhavani Devi on Wednesday won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Fencing Championship 2022 in the Senior Women's Sabre Individual category. Devi outplayed Veronika Vasileva of Australia 15-10 to win the title in London.
Notably, Devi has bagged the title second time as she won gold in the same event back in 2019. Earlier, Bhavani Devi received a bye in her opening round of the championship before fencing Alexandra David in her next round. The Indian fencer continued her rich form as she defeated David by a score of 15-6 and advance to the semi-final round of the championship. The Tokyo Olympian dominated the game against Lucy Higham of Scotland in the semi-final stage as she registered easy win with a scoreline of 15-5.
While, Bhavani Devi secured comprehensive wins in her league stage game and semi-final, Devi had a daunting task in the summit-clash as she faced Veronika Vasileva of Australia. But the Indian fencer held her nerve in the final clash as she eventually clinched gold for the second time. The Chennai-based fencer has had an illustrious career so far as she scripted history by becoming the only Indian fencer to qualify for Tokyo Olympics. She successfully reached the quarter-final of the 2020 Fencing World Cup in Hungary.
Meanwhile, she dominated her first game at Tokyo Olympics against Tunisia's Nadia Ben Azizi. She won the game by 15-3 in just over six minutes. Bhavani Devi started her international career on a low note as she turned up three minutes late for her match in Turkey in 2007.
However, she rose through the ranks in the domestic circuit after winning a bronze medal at the 2009 Commonwealth Fencing Championships. She is also the first Indian to win a silver medal at the Asian Championships and the first from the nation to clinch gold in the Commonwealth Championships, registering her victory at the 2019 edition in Canberra, Australia.