Bhavani Devi makes history, qualifies for Tokyo Olympics- Read to know more about her.

Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal

Tamil Nadu’s CA Bhavani Devi has become the first-ever Indian fencer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The sabre fencer secured a spot for the Tokyo Olympics following the events at the ongoing Fencing World Cup on Sunday.

Hosts Hungary lost in the quarterfinals of the team event, allowing South Korea to progress to the semi-final.Bhavani Devi then qualified through the Adjusted Official Ranking (AOR) method.

Before the tournament two individuals’ spots were up for grabs for the Asia and Oceania region based on the World Ranking as of April 5, 2021.

Bhavani Devi is now ranked 45th and occupies one of the two available slots. Though the 27 year Old’s qualification will be confirmed when the rankings will be made official next month.

There was certainly no doubt ever since Bhavani had the speed for sabre, the fastest of the sword events but for someone hailing from a middle-class family in Chennai’s Washermenpet, Olympics was like reaching the moon

Bhavani had stayed away from home for the most season of her career. Firstly as a junior Bhavani Devi stayed in Thalassery in Kerala junior and later at Livorno in Italy where she overcame everything from darkness to blending into local culture to learn her loving sport.

For the unversed Bhavani Devi was deeply influenced by the tale of Queen Velu Nachiyar or Veeragami, the ruler of Sivaganga who is supposed to have waged the first war of freedom on the British in the 1770s.

The eight-time national champion had failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics earlier. However, she stepped her efforts and secured qualifications for the Tokyo games.

The Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held in 2020 were put owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and are scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8 this year.