BHUBANESWAR 10-Aug-2015
A 39-member Indian squad, headed by squad manager and All-Odisha Chess Association vice-president Ranjan Mohanty, bagged 17 out of 36 medals to emerge overall winners in the Asian Youth Chess Championship, which concluded at Suwon in South Korea today. The 17 medals included five gold, five silver and seven bronze.
Indian youngsters made a clean sweep all three medals in under-8 open and under-16 girls categories. Iran finished overall second with four gold, while Vietnam, China and Uzbekistan secured one gold each to occupy second to fourth positions respectively.
But none of the four Odisha players in the fray was able to win a medal. Woman Candidate Master Saina Salonika finished fifth in U-12 girls category, scoring six points out of a possible nine. She won four games, drew four and lost one. She was the second seed and only official entrant from Odisha.
Mahitosh Dey also ended fifth with six points in U-10 open group. He won six games and lost the remaining three. Smaraki Mohanty occupied 11th position among 13 players in the fray, logging three points in U-18 girls category, while Baivab Mishra finished seventh among 16 players in U-18 open group, collecting four points.
INDIAN MEDAL WINNERS:
Gold: Krishna Teja N (U-18 Open), Bharath Subramaniyam (U-8 Open), Akansha Hagawane (U-16 Girls), Vaishali R (U-14 Girls), Divya Deshmukh (U-10 Girls).
Silver: Erigaisi Arjun (U-12 Open), Aditya Mittal (U-10 Open), Shahil Dey (U-8 Open), Lasya G (U-18 Girls), Chandreyee Hajra (U-16 Girls).
Bronze: Harshvardhan GB (U-12 Open), Raunak Sadhwani (U-10 Open), Prraneeth Vippula (U-8 Open), Varshini V (U-18 Girls), Harshita Guddanti (U-16 Girls), Rakshitta Ravi (U-10 Girls), Prathivya Gupta (U-8 Girls).
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PHOTO: Indian medal winners with manager Ranjan Mohanty and other officials in Suwon on August 10, 2015.
