First Indian fencer to ever qualify for Olympics: Bhavani Devi

Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman Bhavani Devi, who is widely known as Bhavani Devi (born 27 August 1993), is an Indian sabre(fencer). She is supported by GoSports Foundation through the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme. She is the first Indian fencer to ever qualify for the Olympics after qualifying for the 2021 Tokyo Games.

Childhood and Early Career- Bhavani was born into a middle-class family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father was a priest and her mother a homemaker. C A Bhavani Devi Started her sports career in 2003. She did her schooling at Muruga Dhanushkodi Girls Higher Secondary, Chennai and then attended St.Joseph’s Engineering College in Chennai. In 2004, she was introduced to fencing at the school level. After finishing class 10 she joined the SAI (Sports Authority of India) Centre in Thalassery, Kerala. At the age of 14, she appeared at her first international tournament in Turkey, where she got black card for being late by three minutes. In the 2010 Asian Championship in the Philippines she bagged Bronze medal.

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