India bag 13 medals in Rapid event in Asian Youth Chess

NEW DELHI: Putting up a dominating show, India bagged 13 medals, including four golds, out of a possible of 18 in the Rapid event on the opening day of the Asian Youth Chess Championships, here today.

Tamilnadu trio of R Vaishali, M Mahalakshmi and Srija Seshadri won the yellow metal for the hosts in Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 girls' categories respectively while Maharashtra youngster Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh secured the fourth gold in Under-16 Open section.

India also pocketed four silver and five bronze medals. Iran with one gold, two silver and one bronze finished second while Philippines occupied third spot with a solitary gold in the Rapid event.

Tabatabaei M Amin of Iran and Mejia Giovanni of Philippines dashed the Indian hope of gold sweep in the Rapid format as they secured the yellow metal in Under-14 and Under-18 Open sections respectively.

156 players from 15 different countries are participating in this prestigious championship, which have three formats of Rapid, Standard and Blitz events.

Rapid Event Medal Winners :-

Under-14 Girls :- Gold - Vaishali R of India, Silver- Alinasab Mobina of Iran, Bronze - Aakanksha Hagawane of India.

Under-14 Open :- Gold - Tabatabaei M Amin of Iran , Silver - Mitrabha Guha of India, Bronze : Raghunandan K S of India

Under-16 Girls :- Gold - Mahalakshmi M of India, Silver - Gholami Orimi Anahita of Iran, Monnisha G K of India.

Under-16 Open :- Gold - Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh of India, Silver - Aravindh Chithambaram V R of India, Bronze - Visakh N R of India

Under-18 Girls :- Gold - Srija Seshadri of India, Silver - Shweta Gole of India, Bronze - Bala Kannamma P of India.

Under-18 Open :- Gold - Mejia Giovanni of Philippines, Silver - Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad of India, Bronze - Mosadeghpour Masoud of Iran.