Bhavani Devi to lead Indian squad at Fencing World Championships
Bhavani Devi, the best fencer in India, will lead the nation's effort starting on Friday at the Fencing World Championships 2022 in Cairo, Egypt. Four men and four women from each of the three fencing disciplines — sabre, epee, and foil — have been sent from India to compete at world championships.
The top Indian fencer at the competition will be Bhavani Devi, who last year became the first fencer from India to qualify for the Olympics. Bhavani Devi, who has won three Asian medals and is now ranked 39th in the world, will compete in the women's sabre individual and team events. India's men's sabre team will be led by world No. 90 Karan Singh.
Ranked 139 in the world, the highest-placed Indian in the men's epee is Udaivir Singh. India's best bet in the women's division will be Taniksha Khatri, who is placed 94. The top-ranked Indians in the men's and women's foil divisions are Dev (world No. 170) and Radhika Prakash Awati (world No. 349), respectively.
The annual Fencing World Championships were postponed the previous two years owing to COVID-19. India hasn't received a medal in the world yet. In the previous competition, Bhavani Devi dominated the first two rounds of the women's individual sabre event before being eliminated in the round of 16.
Indian Team
Foil men's: Arjun, Dev, Kathiresan Bibish, Tomba Singh
Foil women's: Radhika Prakash Awati, Anita Chanu Phamdom, Kanagalakshmi Vinayakam Paranjothi, Khusboorani Laishram
Sabre men's: Gisho Nidhi Kumaresan Padma, Abhay Krishna Shinde, Karan Singh, Vishal Thapar
Sabre women's: Bhavani Devi, Shreya Gupta, Josna Christy, Vedika Khushi Ravana
Epee men's: Sunil Kumar, Sherjin Rajendran Shanthimol, Robert Sharma Shreemayum, Udaivir Singh
Epee women's: Ena Arora, Taniksha Khatri, Prachi Lohan, Mumtaj