Young Indian sabre fencer Karan Singh Gurjar is making waves on the world stage.
The Rajasthan native, now a resident of Orleans in France, defeated Paris 2024 bronze medalist (team) Maxime Pianfetti 15-6 of the Fencing Sabre World Cup recently.
This is a big stride in his aim to bag a podium finish at the Olympic Summer Games.
In an interview with the Fencing India, the 25-year-old who started fencing at a young age and discussed his journey:
1. Who introduced you to sport of swords and how it changed your life?
Karan: Col. Vikram Singh Jamwal sir former sabre fencer and My coach Ashwani Khati introduced me to this exciting sport.
It had changed my life a lot just because of fencing I left my home at age of 10 and I went to ASI Pune, so that I can learn more about fencing and achieve my goals. I am blessed to have a very supporting fencing family who always believed in me.
2. What are your goals in life towards fencing?
Karan: To be precise its to win medals for India in Olympics and World championship. I am consistent and determined towards them.
3. Name your idol fencer who inspires you and Why?
Karan: My idol fencer is Szilagyi Aron from Hungary. He is a current Olympic champion with consecutive two individual Olympic gold medals and now he is training extensively for Tokyo Olympics 2021 hoping to win gold in both team as well as individual events.
4. Your memorable fencing match or achievement?
Karan: My memorable moment was Junior Asian Fencing Championship (Dammam) 2016 when we played quarterfinal match against Saudi Arabia and score was 36/40 and out of them total points scored by me were 23.
We won the match and got Bronze medal for the same. We all were super excited. Also, I would like to add, in the Senior Commonwealth Championship (Canberra) Australia, we had our final match against team England, total points scored by me was 20 and We Won the match with Gold in our hands.
We all feel proud about it .
5. Message to all the fencers?
Karan: My message to all fencers is that “You are a warrior & warriors don’t quit”.
So work hard with full dedication & consistency. You will reach your destination