Bhavani Devi: Want to improve world ranking in 2022, get to top 30

Bhavani Devi created a flutter by becoming the first Indian woman fencer to qualify for the Olympics. Richer with her Tokyo experience, Bhavani is preparing herself to scale greater heights in 2022.

Training time: C. A. Bhavani Devi became the first-ever fencer to qualify for the Olympics last year.

Bhavani Devi created a flutter by becoming the first Indian woman fencer to qualify for the Olympics. Richer with her Tokyo experience, Bhavani is preparing herself to scale greater heights in 2022. “I am training hard in Orleans, France under my new coach Christian Bauer. It is pretty much like a school where we practise from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday,” she says.

 

“It is rigorous as Bauer is a hard taskmaster, but his techniques are world­class. I have learned so much from him. Since Nicola Zanotti has rejoined the Italian National team, he suggested I train under Bauer. Both Nicola and Bauer have worked together. I am working hard, enjoying too in the process.” 

Elaborating on her goals for the year, she adds: “My goals for 2022 are to do well in the Asian Championships (June 10­15) and Asian Games (September 10 to 25). Of course, I want to improve my world rankings, get to the top 30 (currently 55th ranked) by the end of the season. I can't rest easy as there are a lot of competitions coming up in 2022, almost every month. There is World Cup in Georgia and Bulgaria. There are competitions in Greece, Belgium, Korea, Russia till August. Only in February 2022, there are no competitions.”