Chess Olympiad: PM Modi meets men's and women's teams, hails India's historic double gold triumph

The victorious men`s and women`s teams (Pic: X)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded India's young chess players for their historic achievement at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, where both the men's and women's teams clinched their maiden gold medals.

India made history on Sunday as the men's team defeated Slovenia and the women's team triumphed over Azerbaijan in the final round, securing their first-ever gold medals at the prestigious event.

In the men's competition, D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanandhaa secured decisive wins in the 11th and final round.

The women's team secured their gold by defeating Azerbaijan.

In a video shared on social media, Modi interacted with the chess champions, including R Vaishali, D Harika, Tania Sachdev, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, and Praggnanandhaa.

Also Read: Vidit Gujrathi decides against defending title in Azerbaijan to meet PM Modi

D Gukesh, the star of the tournament, won 10 out of 11 rounds in the Open category, playing a crucial role in India's victory.

During the interaction, the players presented the Prime Minister with a chessboard, after which Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi played a quick game of chess, which left Modi spellbound.

Earlier, the Sports Ministry shared a video of the Indian chess contingent leaving their hotel and heading to meet the Prime Minister.

The Indian men's team finished with an impressive 21 out of 22 possible points in Budapest, conceding only one draw (2-2) against Uzbekistan while defeating the rest of their opponents.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever