Bhavani Devi clinches silver in Belgium meet

Indian fencer Bhavani Devi bagged the silver medal in the women's sabre individual event at the Tournoi satellite competition in Belgium on Sunday.

Bhavani Devi poses with the silver medal she won at the Tournoi satellite competition at Ghent, Belgium, on Sunday.

Indian fencer C. A. Bhavani Devi clinched the silver medal in the women’s sabre individual category in the Tournoi satellite competition (World level) at Ghent, Belgium, on Sunday. Bhavani lost 15-10 to Anna Bashta of Azerbaijan in the final.

"The strategy that my coach and I had planned didn’t work out in the first half and I ended up trailing 2-8. We tried a different strategy in the second half that worked out better and I ended the half on 8-7. Had I played the first half well, maybe I could’ve won the gold. But we are happy with this performance," the 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu told Sportstar over the telephone.

She said she will gain three three points, which will “hopefully” take her “four or five positions up in the World rankings”. She’s currently ranked No. 43 in the senior women’s sabre individual category.

Bhavani continued that she has another eight competitions - World Cup, Grand Prix and satellite events - lined up until the end of March that will be considered for Olympic qualification. The top two players from the Asian zone in the World rankings will qualify for the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo, Japan.    

The Indian fencer had reached the quarterfinals of a satellite tournament in Bulgaria last week, in what was her first international competition of the season. She will next be in action in next week’s satellite tournament in Reykjavik, Iceland.