India's swordswoman Bhavani Devi on Monday has created history in the Asian Fencing Championships by assuring the country its first-ever medal by defeating World Champion & World No. 1 Misaki Emura in Wuxi, China. This is India's first medal in this competition.
Bhavani Devi defeated Japan's Misaki Emura 15-10 in the quarter-finals to seal her place in the semi-finals. With the win, Bhavani has also assured India's first medal in the Asian Fencing Championships. Bhavani completely dominated the World Champion and didn't give Misaki any chance to make a comeback in the match. Bhavani's performance against Misaki was certainly praiseworthy. Prior to this match, Bhavani had lost all her three matches against Misaki. Misaki had won the women's sabre gold medal at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in Cairo.
Bhavani's performance in the Asian Fencing Championships has been amazing so far. Earlier, she had beaten Japan's Ozaki Seri 15-11 to make it to the quarterfinals. Seri was part of the team that won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships. Although, Bhavani got a bye in the round of 64 after which she defeated Dospe Karina of Kazakhstan in the next round.
In the semi-finals, Bhavani, however, went down 14-15 in a hard-fought match against Uzbekistan's Zaynab Dayibekova but ensured India's first medal at the Asian Fencing Championships.
Earlier, Bhavani Devi's performance in the Tokyo Olympics was also excellent.
Bhavani, who became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics, had crashed out in the round of 32 match. Though she missed out on winning a medal for the country, her performance was praised all over.