Very few of us would be informed of a sport like Fencing in India, while a few others probably would have never even heard of it. Meet Bhavani Devi, the 22 year old from Chennai, India’s National Fencing Champion who currently holds the 85th rank in the world. But as fate would have it, she missed being selected at this year’s Olympics by just a glimpse. On representing the APAC region, she stood third, missing the first position, for reasons several. We certainly don’t want to dwell on the ifs and buts, rather want to focus on how we can help India’s only Fencing Champion, snatch gold for her country at the next Olympics. 

 

Bhavani is an incredible achiever, who trains very hard on her fencing skills, in the absence of a dedicated coach or a dedicated institute to train. India’s only space for fencing practices resides in Kerala where she spends most of her time in. A sport such as this, being not so popular in our country, requires her to travel to training centres abroad like France and Germany to sharpen her skills.

The biggest struggle a sports person faces today in India is longer the conservative chains of family or society. Uncustomzied policies for players with layers of bureaucratic processes that follows is the biggest battle of all. A sports person rising the ladder has to spend time wading through policies instead of focusing on training and games. So does Bhavani.

Quality of fencing, a budding sport in India, is yet to reach its niche. For Bhavani's fencing skills to match and surpass international, she needs to train with international coaches. Sadly, process makes it difficult to spend on non Indian expertise for training. This is the first barrier for someone who dreams of winning medals for her own country. The second blow to a sports person is to fight without support. To travel alone and face an opponent without impromtu moral or technical support is an added pressure Bhavani has to handle. Taking her coach along while playing Title matches, for on spot motivation and technical advice is a luxury she cannot afford.

Watch Bhavani train here:  

Feel free to reach out to her at reachbhavanidevi@gmail.com