Asian Fencing Championships 2023: Bhavani Devi beats world champion Misaki Emura for India’s first medal

India’s top fencer Bhavani Devi won a bronze medal in the women’s sabre event at the Asian Fencing Championships 2023 in Wuxi, the People's Republic of China on Monday. It was India’s first-ever medal at the continental meet.

Bhavani Devi, world No. 49, defeated the reigning world champion and world No. 1 Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarter-finals of the women’s sabre event. The win confirmed the Indian fencer a historic medal. It was also Bhavani Devi’s first win over the Japanese fencer in four meetings.

At the Asian Fencing Championships, the losing semi-finalists win bronze medals while the winners compete in the gold medal playoff. The 29-year-old Bhavani Devi settled for bronze after suffering an agonising 15-14 loss to Uzbekistan’s world No. 79 Zaynab Dayibekova in the semi-finals.

Zaynab Dayibekova, an Olympian, went on to win the gold medal with a 15-9 win over the Republic of Korea’s world No. 28 Jisu Yoon.

Earlier, Bhavani Devi had received a bye in the round of 64. She got the better of world No. 95 Dospay Karina of Kazakhstan 15-13 in the next round and stunned world No. 40 and third seed Seri Ozaki of Japan 15-11 in the pre-quarter-finals.

Jagmeet Kaur, Rishika Khajuria and Josna Christy - the other three Indian fencers competing in the women’s sabre - did not win medals.

Bhavani Devi, a two-time Commonwealth champion, previously had two Asian medals to her name but both came at the U23 level. She won an individual silver medal in 2014 and a bronze in 2015.

Bhavani Devi competed at Tokyo 2020 and is the only fencer to represent India at the Olympic Games.

Besides sabre team and individual events, the Asian Fencing Championships 2023 also includes competition for foil and epee disciplines. The continental championships will conclude on June 20.