Bhavani Devi did wonders that day. She became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. And then made history by winning her first match at the Tokyo Olympics. Before her, no Indian female swordsman had shown this charisma in the Olympics. Although she crashed out of the medal race in the next match, it was enough to lift India's mind as far as she reached.
The full name of Bhavani Devi, who hails from Tamil Nadu, is Chadalavada Ananda Sundararaman Bhavani Devi. She started her sports career in 2003 but she had no distant relation with fencing. In fact when she came to take part in school games, the names of six children from all the classes were being taken for the games. When Bhavani came to write her name, the children had already been selected in all the games. Only in sword fighting, no child had got his name written. Bhavani enrolled in this new game and started training. Later she focused her attention on this game.
She was an eight-time national champion in fencing. Bhavani, who created history by winning her first match in the Olympics, was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her return to India.
