Indian fencer CA Bhavani Devi progressed to the semifinal of the women's sabre event at the Asian Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China to confirm the country's maiden medal at the prestigious fencing tournament. Making the victory more special was that she beat reigning world champion Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarterfinals to script her own history.
Misaki had won the women's sabre gold medal at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in Cairo.
In the semifinal, Bhavani will face off against Uzbekistan's Zaynab Dayibekova as she hopes to win at least a silver by reaching the final of the tournament.
The 29-year-old received a bye in the round of 64 before beating Dospay Karina of Kazakhstan in the next round. Bhavani then upset third seed Ozaki Seri 15-11 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Fencing Association of India secretary-general Rajeev Mehta congratulated Bhavani on her historic achievement. "It is a very proud day for Indian fencing. Bhavani has achieved what no one could achieve before. She is the first Indian fencer to win a medal at the prestigious Asian Championships. On behalf of the entire fencing fraternity, I congratulate her and hope she brings back gold," Mehta told PTI.
Bhavani Devi is the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics. She, however, was eliminated from the competition during the Round of 32 at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Before this, Bhavani made history after becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the senior Commonwealth Fencing Championship in Canberra in the Sabre event. She beat Catriona Thomson from Scotland in the semi-finals and then defeated England's Emily Ruaux.
She is currently ranked 49th in the world.
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