CHENNAI: It’s been seven years since a chess player got the Arjuna award and the iconic Viswanathan Anand is hoping that India’s triumphant campaign at the online Chess Olympiad will change this when the national sporting honours are announced next year.
In an interview after India won the top honours jointly with Russia on Sunday, Anand, a recipient of both the Arjuna and the Khel Ratna, said award recognition is due for the sport’s practitioners in India.
“I hope this will lead to all sorts of positive things including the reconsideration in the Sports Ministry of the Arjuna award and the Dronacharya awards for chess. It has been a long time,” said the country’s first Khel Ratna awardee, India’s highest sporting honour.
The last time a chess player received the Arjuna was in 2013 when Abhijeet Gupta was bestowed the honour, while a chess coach has been given the Dronacharya just twice — Raghunandan Vasant Gokhale (1986) and Koneru Ashok (2006).
“Sometimes you need to show that we are still there and I hope this results in positive impetus for many things,” Anand said.
He said in the last few years, there has been “a drop off in the attitude of the Sports Ministry towards chess players” regarding Government awards.
“I don’t mean at a personal level obviously. Just that institutionally, we no longer get awards for international competitions,” Anand said later in an online media interaction. (AGENCIES)
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