Pune

Top Indian fencer and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Bhavani Devi successfully defended her title at the women's individual sabre category at the Senior National Fencing Championship held in Pune on Sunday.

She clinched her 11th national title in the 33rd edition of the event after she defeated V Sunny Alka, the 2021 bronze medalist from Kerala in the final by 15-9.

Earlier, Bhavani, who is a two-time Commonwealth women's sabre champion, downed Punjab's Jagmeet Kaur 15-11 in her semifinal clash and defeated Rishika Khajuria 15-7 in the quarter-finals. She got better of Punjab's Husanpreet Kaur 15-2 in the pre-quarters. She also won by 15-3 against Ritu Prajapati in the round of 32

Her state team Tamil Nadu, consisting of JS Jefarlin, M Tamil Selvi, and M R Beni Quebha, clinched gold in the women's sabre team event after they defeated Kerala by 45-34 in the final. The defending champions Kerala included Christy Jose Jona, Reesha Puthussary, S Sowmiya and V Sunny Alka.

Besides sabre, Senior National Fencing Championship 2023 also included team and individual competition for foil and epee disciplines.

Radhika Awati won gold in the senior women's foil event, defeating VP Kanagalakshmi 15-8 in the final, which was an all-Kerala affair. In men's foil, Manipur's Hemash Sanasam defeated Ismile Khan of Services Sports Control Board 13-12 in the final to clinch the gold.

Prachi Lohan from Haryana, who clinched bronze in the cadet epee event at the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships last year, became the national champion in women's epee with a 15-14 win over her state-mate Tanisha Khatri in the final.

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The Senior Nationals Fencing Championship 2023 will be concluding on Tuesday.