Asian Games 2023 Fencing: Bhavani Devi accuses biasness after defeat, claims 'referee was not right'

Commonwealth Games fencer Bhavani Devi was on the cusp of carving out a name for herself as the first Indian fencer ever to reach the semi-finals at the Asian Games when an unfortunate series of controversial decisions played out.

And Bhavani has lashed out alleging bias after her efforts fell short against home favourite Shao Yaqi. The thirty-year-old Indian fencer attributed her 7-15 defeat to a series of biased refereeing decisions. The decisions, she claimed, unjustly enabled an unfair advantage favouring her Chinese rival.

Referee was not right with me: Bhavani Devi

Bhavani was coming into the match with a terrific record behind her. As the stakes climbed to unprecedented heights, Bhavani was left underwhelmed by the referee's quick-fire awards of a series of touches to Yaqi.

"The referee was not right with me in the beginning, he gave a quick series of 3-4 touches to the Chinese fencer which I was sure in my mind were actually my touches," Bhavani said after a despairing defeat in the quarterfinals.

"Our game is fast, you cannot give so many points away to someone so quickly. But it was my mistake too, I started worrying about things that were not in my control. A big deficit had been created and I could not make a comeback. I tried my best, so I have no regrets," she added.

She also decided to take reviews which was unsuccessful. The player was in protest throughout the match and then stormed off the arena after the conclusion of the match.

Bhavani Devi's journey in Asian Games 2023

Her journey to the quarterfinals entailed defeating determined franchise from Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Thailand. Among the vanquished was reigning Asian champion Zaynab Dayibekova hailing from Uzbekistan. As Bhavani wrested victory from her, expectations were high for her historic run to continue deep into the tournament.

Focus is now Paris Olympics: Bhavani

The Indian fencer is now solely focusing on the Olympics next year and said she will start preparing for it from next week.

"The Asian Championships bronze has been the biggest achievement of my career so far, it has given me a boost for the Paris Olympics. There will be eight tournaments, starting next week, which will serve as Olympic qualifiers. My aim is to now qualify for it and then start preparing for Paris," she said.