Indian fencer Bhavani Devi’s spectacular campaign in the ongoing 19th Asian Games came to an end after she lost to reigning Asian Silver medalist Shao Yaqi 7-15 in the Women’s Sabre quarterfinal on Tuesday. The top-seeded Indian was on a six-game winning streak before this loss. The Indian fencer displayed remarkable strength and spirit but faced a tough challenge.
Earlier, Bhavani Devi had won 5 out of 5 matches in the pool stage. Bhavani Devi completed the group stage with five out of five victories as in her fifth match, she won over Roksana Khatun of Bangladesh 5-1. She received a bye and advanced directly to the round of 16 as a result of being the top seed for the knockout stage.
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Bhavani Devi defeated Thai fencer Tonkhaw Phokaew 15-9 to advance to the quarterfinals of the women’s sabre individual event. The 30-year-old Bhavani Devi got off to a winning start as she defeated Singapore’s Juliet Jie Min Heng 5-2 in her first group stage bout in the women’s sabre individual event.
To keep her winning streak intact, she defeated Uzbek fencer Zaynab Dayibekova 5-1 after getting the better of Kazakh fencer Karina Dospay (5-3) to secure her third victory of the day.
Against Dospay, the Asian Championships bronze medal-winning Indian prevailed 5-3. In her second group stage, she thumped Saudi Arabia’s Alhammad 5-1.
