Asian heroes: Girish Koushik (left) and Stany G.A
Mysore lad Girish A
Koushik made India proud when he won the under-14 title in the Asian Youth Chess Championships
held at Subic, Philippines on Saturday, 21st May, 2011. He scored 7.5 points out of
possible nine to annex the title. Shimoga lad GA Stany clinched the
silver in the boys’ under-18 category, scoring 7 points from nine
rounds. Though Stany and IM Debasshis Das of Cuttack were tied on 7
points, the latter was declared winner based on better progressive
score.
Indian youngsters stole the show in the seven-day
championships, winning 10 out of the 12 titles on offer. Debashis Das
(U-18), Sankalp Baliarsingh (U-10), Ram Aravind (U-8) in boys and Rucha
Pujari (U-18), Nandhidhaa (U-16), G.K. Monnisha (U-14), Ivana Furtado
(U-12), Bidhar Rutumbara (U-10), C. Lakshmi (U-8) are the other winners
in different age categories. LN Ram, who won title
in the under-8 category, was the star Indian performer as he took the
podium with an all-win record. Overall, Indian players won 18 medals out
of a maximum 36. Indians made a clean sweep in the under-10 boys and
girls categories.
The entire team was coached by T.J.Suresh Kumar who was instrumental in guiding it to its highest ever medals tally. R.Hanumantha, Vice President of UKCA, was the Manager of the Indian Team.
