Fencing World Cup: India's Bhavani Devi finishes 23rd in Istanbul

Istanbul (Turkey), March 19 India's Bhavani Devi finished 23rd out of 166 fencers at the women's individual sabre 2022 Fencing World Cup, here on Saturday. She was knocked out in the round of 32.

Bhavani, who is the only Indian fencer to ever compete at the Olympics, was the lone Indian competing in Istanbul. The World No. 56 put up an impressive performance in the pool stage, beating all six opponents to finish first in her pool.

The 28-year-old Indian was tied fifth overall after the first round and earned a direct entry to the main table of 64, where she triumphed 15-8 over the 44th seed Lin Kesi from China.

Bhavani Devi's run came to an end in the table of 32 as she lost 9-15 to World No. 23 Caroline Queroli, a 2018 team world championship winner with France, an olympics.com report said.

The Indian fencer had not progressed beyond the main round of 64 in the last three World Cups this year. Bhavani lost in the preliminary round of 64 at Tbilisi, Georgia and Plovdiv, Bulgaria before being ousted in the main table of 64 at Athens, Greece.

Meanwhile, Karan Singh finished 89th out of 204 fencers at the World Cup in Budapest, Hungary, which is being held concurrently.