Sport

Warm welcome for Indian youth team

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

TRIUMPHANT RETURN: R. Ashwath, S. Nitin, Swayams Mishra and Shyam Nikhil helped India win the gold in the World youth (under-16) chess Olympiad.

Chennai: The Indian team, which won the World youth (under-16) chess Olympiad, was given a fitting reception when they returned home from Singapore on Sunday.

“All our jokes about our team winning the gold became a reality at Singapore,” the 31-year-old K. Visweswaran, who trained the team prior to the camp in Chennai and continued coaching through internet for one hour a day, said.

For the first time the Indian players used the internet to train and make strategies for the team and it worked well.

“All over hotel rooms had wireless internet facility and we connected on skype to talk to our coach in Chennai,” S. Nitin of Salem said.

The reception included garlands and sweets.

The All India Chess Federation (AICF), led by D.V. Sundar, the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, led by Manuel Aaron, and the Chennai District Chess Association, led by K. Muralimohan and their officials, were present to receive and congratulate the players.

It appeared that the formula to success was the great team spirit these five boys showed and they shared a common vision to win the gold for India.

All the players worked towards winning the team gold, sacrificing their own chances of individual board gold medals, Visweswaran said.

Yet, Adhiban (bronze medal) on first board, Shyam Nikhil (silver medal) on the fourth and Swayams Mishra (bronze medal) on the fifth board won individual medals besides the team gold.

“After the boys lost 1-3 to the Philippines in the seventh round, they were demoralised and locked themselves in their rooms. I took them out to the market to divert their mood,” A. Raizada of Union Bank of India, Lucknow, who went as the coach-cum- manager, said.

According to one parent who accompanied the team, the Indian manager saw one opponent of an Indian player wearing a cap and looking a little suspicious.

He followed him to the toilet during the game and hearing no noise of water, reported it to the arbiter that he could be receiving some external help.

“We were overconfident against the Philippines because three of them did not have ratings,” agreed the players as the reason for losing to the Philippines.

The Indian boys went sky-high after defeating the top seed Hungary in the fifth round by a 3.5-0.5 margin.

“Towards the end we were cool and had no tension,” the players said, though their parents thought otherwise as Hungary was just half-a-point behind.

“When all other games were complete yesterday, mine was the last one in progress.

“If I won the game then India would get gold and if I lost, silver. I won and it was a great feeling,” R. Ashwath, who lives at Anna Nagar in Chennai, said.

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