Team Orisports 14-Jul-2010 207
Chess players once again proved themselves as leading international achievers for Orissa, contributing three medals to the country’s rich haul of 14 in the Asian Youth Championship, which concluded at Beijing, China today.
Rourkela boy Utkal Ranjan Sahoo pocketed the gold in the under-14 open category. He drew his ninth and last game against Akhmetov Ayan (Kazakstan) to finish with 7.5 points. Staying unbeaten through out, Utkal won six games and drew the remaining three. India’s Girish A Koushik (7) bagged the silver in the category, while the bronze went to Fang Yan (6.5) of China.
Orissa’s other two medals were bagged by Anwesh Upadhyaya and Rudraksh Parida in under-18 and under-eight open categories. Top seed Anwesh beat Vietnam Fide Master Nguyen Van Hai in the ninth and last round to finish second, behind Li Hanbin (7) of China. In total, he won five games, drew three lost one to end up with 6.5 points.
Orissa IM Debashis Das narrowly missed the bronze medal despite winning the last round game against Zhang Shengyun (China). His defeat against Li Hanbin in the penultimate round cost him the medal. Cuttack teenager Debashis registered four wins, four draws and one defeat to finish fourth with six points.
Rudraksh defeated Derakhshani Borna (Iran) in the last round to finish second with seven points. In total, he notched up seven wins and suffered two defeats. Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Khoi (7.5), Uzbekistan’s Yakubboev Nodirbek (7) secured the gold and bronze respectively.
Orissa missed two more bronze medals as Sunyasakta Satpathy (6.5) and Adyasa Mahapatra (6.5) settled for fourth positions in under-12 and under-eight girls categories. Sunyasakta beat Zhang Lanlin (China) to end her campaign with six wins, one draw and two defeats. Vietnam’s Vu Thi Dieu Ai (8), India’s Ivana Maria Furtado (6.5) and China’s Liu Kexin (6.5) took the gold, silver and bronze respectively.
Adyasa beat Lim Wan Yu Steffi (Singapore) in the ninth round to post her sixth win. But two defeats and one draw earlier cost her the medal. Chinese girls finished one-two in the category with Li Yunshan (9) and Zhu Jiner (7) grabbing the gold and silver respectively. The bronze was claimed by India’s Zantye Riddhi Pravin (7).
Indian medal winners:
Gold: Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (U-14), Srija Seshadri (G-14), Bhakti Kulkarni (G-18).
Silver: Rudraksh Parida (U-8), Savant Riya (G-10), Ivana Maria Furtado (G-12), Diptayan Ghosh (U-12), Girish A Koushik (U-14), A Akshaya (G-16), Anwesh Upadhyaya (U-18).
Bronze: Zantye Riddhi Pravin (G-8), Tejaswini Sagar (G-10), Rucha Pujari (G-16), Ankit R Rajpara (U-16).
------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: India players celebrate after winning a total of 14 medals at the Asian Youth Chess Championship in Beijing on July 14, 2010.
