C. A. Bhavani Devi created history by becoming the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics.
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Tokyo-bound Indian fencer Bhavani Devi on Wednesday acknowledged that she had almost let go of the opportunity to participate in the World Cup in Hungary in March to stay with her mother who was struggling with COVID-19 at the time. The World Cup also serves as a qualifying tournament before the Olympics. Devi said that her mother had been hospitalized for two months and was not doing very well, so she wanted to stay back. However, upon her mother’s request, she went to participate in the tournament and managed to book her place in the Tokyo Olympics. She will become the first to represent India in fencing at The Games.
“Before the Budapest qualification, my mom was hospitalized, she was COVID positive and was admitted in hospital for two months. I actually thought of not going for the competition,” Devi said in a press conference organized by the Sports Authority of India.
“I wanted to visit her but still, my mother told me from the hospital bed ‘Don’t worry, I’m okay, I’m active, I just need some rest, and I will come back home soon, just focus on your game’,” she said.
Devi is currently in Italy where she is training for the Olympics. She participated in the Fencing World Cup in Budapest in March and secured an Olympic spot through the Adjusted Official Ranking (AOR) system. The 27-year-old said that she has no competitions ahead of The Games and that she was happy with just training until then.
“As of now, we don’t have any competitions before Olympics, because almost all have been cancelled. We might have the Asian Championship, but it’s likely to get cancelled,” she said.
“There are more training camps happening in Italy. There are no competitions and we can’t travel to other countries. But the camps are very intense, we train with very competitive fencers all day.”
Devi also said that it was unlikely that she would return to India before the Olympics and is expected to receive her COVID-19 vaccine in Rome next week.
“SAI and my federation had requested Italian federation. The Indian Embassy in Rome is also trying to help me get vaccinated in Italy. I will get vaccinated most probably next week. I’m thankful to SAI and the Indian Embassy in Rome and the Fencing Association of India for helping me to get vaccinated here,” she concluded.
