Fast Facts on Indian Fencing
Founded in seventies, geared up in eighties, spruced up in nineties and streamlined in the current millenium, the Fencing Association of India has had a chequered past in its march to attain its laudable objectives. Since the commencement of the current century, the Association has made remarkable progress at the national level with the assistance of various agencies. The first and foremost credit should rightly go to the F.I.E. headed by its dynamic President, Mr. Rene Roch, whose vision with a missionary spirit and dedication is fast taking the game to the forefront with the increasing number of countries getting affiliated with the World body. To be precise perhaps it is now 113!
Perhaps, taking a cue from this, it will be heartening to know that the regional bodies too - the Asian Fencing Confederation at the Asian region level and the Commonwealth Fencing Federation at the Commonwealth level - are also making faster strides to accelerate the development of the game in their respective region. All this augurs well for the game, and the time is not far off when it may become as popular as soccer, or even more, in strength and competitions!
At the international level, in the wake of the new millenium, we made our debut in the World Junior & Cadet Championship held at Gdansk (Poland) in April 2001, and participated in the succeeding Championships as well, held at Antalya (Turkey) in April 2002, and at Plovdiv (Bulgaria) in April 2004. Similarly, we made our maiden appearance in the World Senior Championship held at Nimes (France) in October 2001, in one event only, and made our reappearance in the Havana World Championship held in October 2003. At the Asian level, the Indian team participated in the Asian Championship held at Bangkok in August 2001 for the first time, and took part in the succeeding Championship held at Chiengmai (Thailand) in October 2003, and at Manila in April 2004. We also took part for the first time in the Asian Junior & Cadet Championship held at Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) in July last. No sooner did we became a member of the Commonwealth Fencing Federation in 2001, than we made our entry for the first time in the Commonwealth Fencing Championship held at Newcastle (Australia) in November 2002, with significant achievements.
The Fencing Federation of India arranged to hold their annual National Championships in Sub-Junior (under 14 years), Cadet, Junior and Senior sections, as per regulations of the F.I.E.
The Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports at Patiala, the premier sports training institution in India, holds a one-year Diploma Course in Fencing to train coaches in this discipline
In fine, “Our dreams are bigger; our ambitions higher; our commitment deeper and our efforts are greater”, to achieve our ideals set by us.
In short, the FAI are making concerted and sustained efforts to accelerate the development and promotion of the game at the national level and participate in international competitions as well, held under the aegis of the F.I.E., A.F.C. and C.F.F., to reach ‘farther’, become ‘stronger’ and attain ‘higher’ standard, to reckon as a formidable force, ab initio, in the Asian region and with the passage of time at the global level.
Fencing Federation of India
Room No.1152, First Floor
Gate No.28, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003. India
Phone: +91-11-24365980;
Telefax: +91-11-24367512
Email: indfencing@eth.net or indfencing@yahoo.co.inPresident: Mr. Arvind Khanna
Secretary General: Mr. Pradeep Rana
This document accessed from the Commonwealth Fencing Federation website (http://www.commonwealthfencing.org).