Mumbai: On the night of her shoulder surgery in Rome last November, Bhavani Devi lay all alone in her hospital room. India’s top fencer did not want her mother to take the trouble of travelling and staying in Italy, and persuaded her coach to come only the next day to take her back to Livorno.
Unbeaten in the pool stage, the Indian had said she lost control of the match after feeling upset over the refereeing. “I thought, ‘did I do the right thing?’. I called the nurse and asked them to keep the door and window open. I wanted some fresh air. “This Asian Games, I believe that something will bring out the best in me. Game time was as crucial as the medal for Bhavani, who could not train from November to April. “It was like a normal training day, except everything was verbal – talking tactics, watching videos and just being with other athletes. I missed competing, but I did not miss the environment. “It was good in France too, and I tried to continue there. “The only bad thing was the timing of it all. But, not everything goes as per your plan. I did the best I could do in those situations. Amid setbacks, Bhavani did not lose motivation. “That made me face many situations, good and bad, but I took everything as a learning to become a better athlete and a better person. So, in any situation, I never felt like: Okay, I need to stop. Bhavani stopped one step short of an assured medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games, losing in the quarter-final.
The 33-year-old won gold in a Satellite event this month in Reykjavik, Iceland, before checking into the national camp.
“At that moment, I was so scared,” Bhavani told HT. “Different, in terms of maturity, experience and learnings,” said Bhavani, who has also moved from taking zumba classes to dance lessons as part of her training. “Every day, I went to the training hall,” said Bhavani. But something was not feeling good for me in terms of the environment for some months,” she said. “It was very hard,” said Bhavani. “In my career, I’ve had many experiences where I was the first,” she said.
