Fencing | Bhavani to compete in four FIE WCs
The Hindu
Sports Ministry sanctions ₹8.16 lakh
India's first-ever Olympian fencer Bhavani Devi is set to take part in four international competitions in the next calender year after the Sports Ministry sanctioned an amount of ₹8.16 lakh to facilitate her participation in the events. According to a ministry statement, the amount was sanctioned via the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) scheme.
Bhavani, who won her first round individual sabre event before going down in the Round of 32 match at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year, will be taking part at a training camp in Tbilisi, Georgia, from January 4, before competing at the International Fencing Federation (FIE) World Cup in the same city from January 14 to 16.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.