The Hindu : Harika needs a sponsor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 09, 2002

Sport

Sport - Chess

Harika needs a sponsor

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD APRIL 8 Twelve-year-old Dronavalli Harika has done it again. The rising star on the chess horizon, incidentally from the Vijayawada-Guntur belt like the famous duo of Pentyala Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy, has a hectic schedule ahead after winning the Asian under-12 championship in Teheran a few days ago.

Speaking to The Hindu, the newly-crowned Asian champion informed that the schedule included the National `A' Championship scheduled to be held from May 5 to 13 in Lucknow will be followed by the Asian under-20 championship in Colombo by May end, the World under-20 championship in Russia in August and then the World Championship for age groups in Greece, for which she qualified by virtue of her Teheran win.

Coached by N.V.S.Rama Raju, the seventh standard student of Sri Venkateshwara Bala Kutir in Guntur, Harika is very keen to get her second 13-round norm in the National `A' to become the second one after World junior chess champion, Koneru Humpy, to pick the International Woman Master title.

The toughest match in the Asian champioship in Teheran was the fifth round game against Sindhu that she won quite comfortably after opting for Reti Opening. "After that I had the confidence of winning the title,'' she recalled.

Apparently, now the parents father D.Ramesh, deputy executive engineer in Panchayat Raj, and her mother D.Swarna (housewife) are feeling the pinch and are desperately looking for sponsorship to take care of at least the expenditure incurred by way of Harika's participation in most of the international tournaments.

It will be stressing the obvious to state that Harika is immensely talented player who is determined to emulate the feats of the illustrious youngsters from the State — Harikrishna and Humpy. "She is very good in opening and middle-game and has scope for improvement in endgames,'' she admitted. Chess base is her partner for the last one-year and looking for a qualified coach. "World championship is her ultimate goal,'' asserts her father. For one who got two silvers in the World Under-10 (Oct. 2000) and World under-12 (Oct. 2001) championships, Harika is clearly champion material that needs to be handled with care and lot of planning. The idea of hiring a full-time coach had already crossed the minds of the parents but what is holding back is the huge expenditure it might involve. For the record, Harika also won the Asian (under-12) championship silver in Bikaner in 2001.

The next few months can well be the most decisive phase in this gifted youngster's career for timely Corporate support might just see her graduate into the elite world of chess. It may not be out of place to mention here that it is this support at the most appropriate time that saw Humpy and Harikrishna channelise their talent with meticulous planning to scale the summit in their age groups with impressive, consistent performances. There is no doubt that Harika has the talent and the determination to carve out a special place of her own in the game.

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