Velammal MHSS felicitated five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand at its school premises here on Monday.
The chess wizard, who was accorded a royal reception, later praised Velammal for its efforts in promoting chess. “It’s great to see youngsters take up chess and other sports. Velammal is doing a great job,” he said.
A lot of young international chess players have come from the Velammal stable over the last few years. Seven such youngsters, who won medals in the recently concluded Asian junior championship in Sri Lanka, were felicitated by Anand.
R. Pragganandhaa and R. Vaishali bagged gold in the under-8 boys’ and under-12 girls’ sections.
Rindhiya and M. Mahalakshmi clinched silver in the under-8 and under-14 girls’ categories, while Karthikeyan Murali, G.K. Monnisha and J. Saranya won bronze in the under-14 boys’ and girls’ and under-18 girls’ sections, respectively.
Gesture
In a nice gesture, Anand, who was given Rs. five lakh by Velammal, returned the amount to the school, saying that it can “institute a scholarship for deserving chess players.”
The King of 64 squares said he’s having a nice time with his family and will soon start preparing for a tournament in Sao Paulo in September.
He also advised youngsters to enjoy the sport and not put undue pressure on themselves in pursuit of results.
Keywords: Viswanathan Anand
Exceptionally great gesture by World Champ Anand; if only other so called 'great' sportmen clamoring for Bharat Ratna in some of the other popular sports other than chess will follow in Anand's footsteps
with similar gestures instead of taking all the money given to them by the state and private sectors. I don't want to name names here of other sports figures isnce those following sports know whom I am talking about.
I have never heard of any sports person make such a kind gesture as
World Chess Champion Vishwanathan Anand:
{In a nice gesture, Anand, who was given Rs. five lakh by Velammal,
returned the amount to the school, saying that it can “institute a
scholarship for deserving chess players.”}
A truly selfless gentleman! May his tribe increase.
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