Built around the experience and ambition of Olympian CA Bhavani Devi, the Foundation is creating pathways for young people to discover sport, develop talent and pursue excellence - beginning with fencing.
Building fencing from the ground up, to the podium.
INDIA, ON GUARD.
Corporate & CSR
Schools
Government & Institutions
CA Bhavani Devi
She found a way. Now BDF is working to build a pathway.
Bhavani Devi's journey through fencing began with a school introduction and grew into a career that changed what was considered possible for an Indian fencer.
At Tokyo 2020, she became the first Indian fencer to compete at the Olympic Games. In 2023, she won bronze at the Asian Fencing Championships, becoming the first Indian fencer to medal at the event. She received the Arjuna Award in 2021.
The Foundation turns that lived experience into a larger purpose: a first opportunity can change an athlete's direction, but lasting progress requires what comes after - access, coaching, competition, continuity and a system that allows talent to keep moving.
INDIA'S FIRST OLYMPIC FENCER
ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
BRONZE, 2023
ARJUNA AWARD
2021
Our Programmes
Build the pathway, not just the moment.
A one-day introduction can create curiosity. A connected programme gives that curiosity somewhere to go. BDF is developing its work around complementary areas that connect access, identification, development and progression.
Fencing in Schools
Put the first sabre within reach.
Introduce students to fencing through structured school experiences designed around participation, learning and an authentic first encounter with the sport. The objective goes beyond a demonstration. Students who develop a genuine interest should be able to understand what comes next.
Talent Identification
Find potential early. Give it direction.
Participation creates the opportunity to observe more than immediate performance. BDF's talent-identification approach is designed to recognise sustained interest, aptitude, learning ability and commitment, helping promising young athletes connect with appropriate next-stage opportunities.
Development Pathways
Give potential the chance to become progress.
Promising athletes need continuity. BDF aims to help create access to regular coaching, equipment, training environments and structured progression so that an initial interest in sport can develop over time.
Performance Pathways
From developing athlete to higher ambition.
For athletes ready to progress further, BDF's longer-term model is designed to connect sporting development with higher-level coaching, competition exposure and performance support. The aim is not to promise a podium. It is to build a more credible route towards one.
The Starting Line
A sporting pathway cannot begin without a first opportunity.
Bhavani Devi was introduced to fencing at school. That first encounter opened a path into a sport she barely knew and eventually to the Olympic Games.
The Bhavani Devi Foundation begins with the same possibility: give more young people the opportunity to encounter sport, discover their potential and understand where that first experience could lead.
Because discovering talent is only the beginning. What matters is whether there is a pathway after it.
The BDF Pathway
FROM FIRST TOUCH TO PODIUM.
One experience can spark an interest. Sustained opportunity is what allows that interest to grow. BDF is developing a connected pathway designed to move young people from first exposure to structured development and, where potential and commitment align, towards competition and high performance.
Where We Work
One mission. Multiple starting points.
BDF is being developed as a multi-location foundation rather than around a single-city model. Initial programme planning has identified Delhi, Chennai and Thalassery as parallel location candidates, with each location progressing according to programme readiness, local partnerships and the infrastructure required to build sustainable sporting opportunities.
Measuring What Matters
Participation is the beginning. Progress is the goal.
BDF intends to measure more than how many people attend a programme. As programmes move into delivery, the Foundation should track how opportunity translates into continued participation, development and sporting progression.
ACCESS
Young people introduced to fencing and sport.
CONTINUATION
Participants choosing to move into structured sporting activity.
DEVELOPMENT
Athletes sustaining training and progressing through programme stages
COMPETITION
Athletes entering appropriate competitive environments.
PROGRESSION
Athletes advancing towards higher levels of sporting development and performance.
The Next Generation
Build a starting line that leads somewhere.
If you are a school, institution or corporate partner looking to widen access to sport and help young talent progress, we would like to hear from you.