The KIIT & KISS fraternity on Thursday felicitated CA Bhavani Devi, a KIIT student, who qualified for Tokyo Olympics 2021 in Fencing. She has earned the distinction of becoming the first-ever Indian to qualify for the Olympics in Fencing.
Bhavani, who hails from Tamil Nadu, reached Bhubaneswar along with her mother and coach from Italy. A felicitation ceremony for the ace fencer was organized at the KIIT in the presence of distinguished personalities like Dr Achyuta Samanta, founder, KIIT & KISS; Bashir A Khan, general secretary, Fencing Association of India; Debendra Sahoo, secretary, Odisha Fencing Association; ‘Green Man’ Dr Abdul Ghani; and sprint queen Dutee Chand.
Bhavani said, “KIIT is lucky for me. I qualified for Tokyo Olympics after enrolling in KIIT.” Dr Samanta said, "Apart from education, KIIT & KISS have given emphasis on the promotion of sports and sportspersons. In fact, KIIT & KISS premises has the largest state-of-the-art sports and games infrastructure located in an educational institution across the globe. So far, the two institutions have produced about 5,000 talented players”. Dr Samanta hoped Dutee and Bhavani would definitely win medals in the forthcoming Olympics.