City's Kashvi wins team silver in fencing

Chandigarh, August 17

Indian junior women’s fencing team, comprising Chandigarh’s Kashvi Garg, Taniksha Khatri of Haryana, Maharashtra’s Dyaneshwari Shinde and Pragya Singh of Madhya Pradesh, claimed silver in the women’s epee event of the Commonwealth Fencing Championship being held in London.

The tournament is being conducted by the Commonwealth Fencing Federation under the aegis of the Commonwealth Games Federation. More than 1,000 athletes from over 35 countries are participating in it.

India defeated New Zealand 45-40 in an interesting quarterfinal and overpowered Australia 45-40 in the semifinal. In the final, the Indian fencers went down to the hosts and defending champions England to settle with the silver medal.

Kashvi, a student of Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, honed her skills under fencing coach Mukesh Kumar and mentor Charanjeet Kaur. Sandeep Passi, president, Chandigarh Fencing Association (CFA), and Munish Sharma, secretary, CFA, congratulated Kashvi.

“It was a proud and mesmerising moment for the entire family, when we saw Kashvi receiving the medal and holding the Indian flag at the commonwealth podium in London,” said Kashvi’s father, Dr Mandeep Garg, who is a senior radiologist at the PGI. Her mother, Dr Suruchi Garg, is a practicing dermatologist.