Chess kids accorded grand reception

The newly crowned World under-14 girls` chess champion Padmini Rout and two other medal-winning Orissa youngsters were accorded rousing reception in Bhubaneswar on their return home from Vietnam today. The trio were taken in a motorcade from Biju Patnaik International Airport to Padmini`s own school, DAV Public, Chandrasekharpur, where over 3,000 students and teaching staff gave them a red-carpet welcome. Padmini, who bagged a gold medal each in individual and team events, led the procession on a red open jeep, waving to people along the streets. She was followed in another open jeep by Sunyasakta Satpathy and Sidhant Mohapatra, who helped India claim a gold and bronze in under-10 girls` and boys` team events respectively. With a police van escorting the motorcade and media people moving closely with the two jeeps, it was the first instance that chess players were given such a public ovation in the state capital. At a function in DAV school, Padmini was presented with a memento and Rs 21,000 as cash prize. The trio were later felicitated in another function, which was organised by S R Chess Center and Orissa Chess Review. Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines, Padmini expressed her happiness for winning the the world title along with Viswanathan Anand the same day. ``Anand is my role-model and it was memorable coincidence that we both won world titles on the same day,`` she said. Woman International Master Padmini hoped that her title triumphs in Asia Commonwealth and World Youth Championships this year would increase her Elo points close to 2,300. Asked about her next target, the 10th standard student said she would be aiming for IM norms and the IM title. ``I will be playing National junior, Asian junior and Women`s National `A` championships later this year. These are norm tournaments and I hope to do well in these meets,`` she signed off.