Chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa expressed satisfaction at India’s double gold medal win on the recently-concluded Chess Olympiad and added that the triumph would take the sport to extra folks. Within the recently-concluded Chess Olympiad, India’s males’s and ladies’s groups made historical past, securing gold medals for the primary time of their respective classes and becoming a member of the elite firm of nations to have pulled off a double of gold medals in the identical version of the competitors. Praggnanandhaa, his sister Vaishali Rameshbabu, and males’s workforce captain Srinath Narayanan got a heat welcome on the Chennai airport after the win.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Brother-sister duo Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Rameshbabu, who had been a part of the Indian males’s and ladies’s chess groups, obtain a heat welcome on the Chennai airport
Indian males’s and ladies’s groups clinched their maiden gold medals within the forty fifth Chess Olympiad on… pic.twitter.com/J3ReSTfG0Z
— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2024
Talking to ANI, Praggnanandhaa stated, “Each the lads’s and ladies’s groups gained the gold medal. It is a very historic achievement, and there are only a few groups who’ve gained each medals on the identical time, and we’re successful for the primary time. It is a very proud second for all of us. I believe this win will take chess to extra folks.”
He expressed that over the last Olympiad again in Chennai, India was near successful gold, however the final two video games didn’t go properly, and the lads’s and ladies’s groups each needed to accept bronze medals.
“However this time round, we had been extra skilled. We had been in a position to make use of that have and get the gold. There was no method as such; you simply must play at your finest,” he added.
#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: On successful gold medal within the forty fifth Chess Olympiad, Indian chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa says, “Each the lads’s and ladies’s groups gained the Gold Medal. It is a very historic achievement and there are only a few groups who’ve gained each medals on the… pic.twitter.com/OP9JF8yfNn
— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2024
Males’s workforce captain Srinath additionally informed ANI that the journey was fairly “easy” for the lads’s workforce as they managed to win 10 matches in a dominant vogue and drew one.
“India has gained the gold medal on the Olympiad for the primary time. It’s a historic achievement. I used to be the captain of the lads’s workforce. And it has been a really easy journey so far as the lads’s workforce is worried. We gained 10 matches. We drew one match. And we gained by a margin of 4 match factors. We had a really spectacular win proper from the beginning… The whole lot occurred easily. It was a whole workforce effort and a historic achievement,” stated Srinath.
Srinath highlighted a number of milestones within the workforce’s journey, like beating the host nation Hungary, the European Champions Serbia, the highest seed workforce USA, China, one of many hardest opponents for India, and Asian Video games champions Iran.
The workforce captain stated that having Chess legend Viswanathan Anand in Budapest was a pleasant expertise and it was nice to win in entrance of him.
“I look as much as him. Having him round gave us plenty of positivity,” he added.
Praggnanandhaa’s sister Vaishali additionally informed ANI, “I’m very pleased to be part of the Indian Gold Medal workforce. Each groups have gained gold medals. It’s a historic second. I’m very pleased that each women and men had been capable of carry out properly this time. We had been near a gold medal in earlier Olympiad, however the final match didn’t go our approach and needed to accept bronze. It was a painful second for us.”
Vaishali thanked the coaches for his or her assist in the workforce’s triumph.
Within the ultimate spherical of the match, India’s males’s workforce of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna beat Slovenia to clinch the gold medal.
It was the wins from D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi that gave India a 2-0 lead and confirmed the gold medal. Later within the ultimate spherical, Praggnandhaa additionally gained his recreation, and Vidit ended his bout with a draw. India defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 to seal the gold medal.
In the meantime, the Indian ladies’s chess workforce of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal, and Tania Sachdev additionally gained gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5.
Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agrawal gained their respective matches within the ultimate spherical. Whereas, R Vaishali drew her match in opposition to Ulviyya Fataliyeva.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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