Continuing its tradition of honouring the talented sportspersons Sports journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) felicitated Orange city’s chess prodigy Raunak Sadhwani who has become 65th GM from the country and first from the city at the age of 13 years 9 months,
He was honoured ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) at its office on Friday.
While interacting with journalists’ he said “ I love to play against strong players and that too under the pressure. I was confident to become GM in FIDE Grand Swiss chess Tournament at Douglas, Isle of Man –United Kingdom. It was a nice feeling that I have fulfilled the expectations of my parentsâ€.
Sadhwani said he played against the world’s best top players and had a knowledge about his opponent. Getting entry in this tournament was quite difficult but the organizer gave him a wild card entry on the basis of top junior player from India. Asked about his next goal, Raunak who secured his final GM norm and also crossed rating of 2500 said “ Now I will concentrate to attain 2600 rating and then 2700. Instead of thinking much about world championship, I would like to achieve my goals one by one slowly and steadilyâ€, he said
Raunak’s parents said for advance training Raunak has to go out of the country and that will be a costly affair. “ I would like to make an appeal to the corporates to help usâ€, said Raunak’s father.
Earlier SJAN secretary Suhas Nayse and treasurer Nilesh Deshpande welcomed Sadhwani and Dhopade. Dr Ram Thakur conducted proceedings.
Get the latest Nagpur sports news and breaking news and headlines from cricket, football, badminton, cycling, etc. Stay updated with Nagpur’s very own 24*7 online news portal, THE LIVE NAGPUR.