World chess champion Viswanathan Anand is more concerned about how many medals India would win in the Commonwealth Games than the controversies in the run-up to the mega event, scheduled to kick off here on October 3.
“I don’t know the details of the preparedness but I’m concerned about the number of medals we would win. I hope our athletes will win medals in the Delhi Games,” Anand said while wishing Indians luck.
Anand also said that the row over his citizenship is history now and the honorary doctorate degree will be conferred on him very soon.
“We have set a future date,” said Anand.
Anand, an Indian passport holder who has lived and trained in Spain for a while, was to be conferred the degree by the University of Hyderabad but what was supposed to be a simple ceremony, snowballed into a major controversy when it emerged that the Human Resource Development Ministry had questioned Anand’s citizenship.
HRD minister Kapil Sibal had to step in and settled the issue by offering an apology to Anand.
Asked about the future of chess in India, Anand sounded optimistic. “We have just crossed million students in NIIT Mind Champions Academy and they play 20 games on the server.
“It’s very exciting as millions of kids are learning everyday. We will identify some talents. Five to 10 years from now, you will see the result,” Anand said.
