Bhavani Devi's women's individual sabre campaign at the Asian Games 2023 ended in the quarterfinals. The current Asian silver medallist and global No. 11 in fencing, Shao Yaqi, defeated the Indian fencer.
Shortly
- after the quarterfinals, Bhavani Devi's women's individual sabre campaign was over.
- Bhavani Devi loses against Shao Yaqi of China 7-15 in the quarterfinals.
- Bhavani has a six-match winning streak going into the quarterfinal.
Bhavani Devi of India was eliminated from the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou after she lost to Yaqi Shao of China 7-15 in the women's individual sabre quarterfinals on Tuesday. Previously, Bhavani had a six-match winning streak going into the quarterfinal.
Bhavani won her opening match 5-2 over Singapore's Juliet Jie Min Heng before downing Alhsna Alhammad of Saudi Arabia 5-1. The Indian, who had won the bronze medal at the Asian Championships, then defeated Karina Dospay 5-3. In her final two pool matches, she easily defeated Bangladesh's Roksana Khatun and Uzbekistan's Zaynab Dayibekova by identical 5-1 scores.
To proceed to the quarterfinals, she subsequently defeated Tonkhaw Phokaew of Thailand by a score of 15-9. However, her Chinese opponent in the round of eight proved superior; she took an 8-3 lead and needed only seven more touches to advance to the continental championship's second semi-final. Bhavani managed four more touches in the second period, but it wasn't enough.
In a knockout round, the fencer who completes 15 touches first is proclaimed the winner, and Shao completes the feat in the second round without breaking a sweat. The Tokyo Olympian would consider herself 'unlucky' to be paired against the silver medalist from the 2018 Asian Games in the last eight because semifinalists in fencing are guaranteed at least a bronze medal.
Bhavani made history in 2018 by becoming the first Indian to take home a gold medal from the Senior Commonwealth Fencing Championship in Canberra, Australia. Her big moment, though, was still to come. Bhavani Devi made Olympic history in March 2021 by becoming the first fencer from India to do so. Due to her placement in the Global Women's Sabre rankings, she was qualified using the Adjusted Official ranking method. This represented not only a tremendous achievement for her personally but also a turning point in the history of Indian sports, establishing fencing as a force to be reckoned with.
