Her fencing at the Tokyo Olympics will always be counted as an epic day in India’s sports as the nation made it’s debut in a discipline that has been showcased at the Summer Games since 1896. She made the golden chance count after coming close to qualifying for the Rio Olympics in 2016. She didn’t leave any stone unturned and eventually rose to success in domestic circuit before winning a bronze medal at the 2009 Commonwealth Fencing Championships, her first international medal. Chadalavada Anandha Sundh Bhavani aka C.A. Bhavani Devi is the first Indian to win a silver medal at the Asian Championships and is also the first from the nation to win the Commonwealth Championships, registering her victory at the 2019 edition in Canberra, Australia.
We spoke to her exclusively at a sports event held recently in Delhi, below are the excerpts.
Q. How are the preparations going on for Asian games and Paris Olympics 2020?
A. Yes, it’s going very well. I’m preparing very hard for the Paris and the Asian Games. Learning new techniques, new strategies, drawing lessons from the past matches and amending the game as required.
Q. So did you make any amendments or any kind of strategical changes in your game, if your coach has suggested some?
A. Yes, definitely we have to change according to our opponent style of playing. So we are working on that and definitely I cannot reveal all our amendments and all our strategies, but I need some more time to adapt with my new coach, so it’s going well.
Q. This name ‘Bhavani’ suits you so much. A synonym to Hindu goddess Durga. Do you feel that power. You are a fencer, an individual identity of yours, whom would you like to give the credit?
A. Yes, definitely infact my name was kept on her name only. It’s a symbolic of women power. I love playing sports and my family has been supporting me throughout and they have supported me tremendously more than anyone else. Credit definitely goes to them. So I think it’s because of the strength and motivation I get from them has always pushed me to keep walking, playing and achieving. Whatever I could do it’s because of them only.
Q. Bhavani, who has been your inspiration in your sport, and I mean from others also.
A. My inspiration is Mariel Leigh Zagunis from USA in fencing. In other sports. I follow Sachin, Sania and currently Neeraj Chopra a lot. So everyone is inspiring and motivating us to achieve better results.
Q. In India when it comes to fencing we can only remember your name. We can’t see more names apart from you. Can you quote some particular reason?
A. Actually everyone came to know about fencing after I qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. So I think right now we are getting support from the government, from the private organizations. So I’m sure in the near future we will see more emerging champions from fencing.
Q. So have you qualified for the Paris Olympics and Asian Games, or are you still to give the trials in the month of March?
A. Yes, for Paris we have a qualification for one year which will start from next year. For Asian Games, I think we will have the qualification in the month of March next year.
