Would rank this silver medal win as one of my best results ever, says chess player Harika Dronavalli
Oct 03, 2021
New Delhi [India], October 3 : India chess player Harika Dronavalli labelled the country's silver medal win at the World Women's Team Championship as one of her "best results" ever.
India on Saturday had won their first-ever medal in the FIDE world women's team chess championship. India lost its final match to Russia by 3-1 (second round) in the summit clash to clinch the silver medal.
"Feeling very emotional today, having achieved one of my long-awaited goals, of winning a team medal in the Olympiad or world team's!!! I first played a team event in 2004 and in the events since then, it has been a roller coaster and on numerous occasions, we have been close but somehow we never achieved the podium finish," Harika tweeted.
"Some of these chances left me very dejected and I cried multiple times whenever we left empty-handed. I have been longing for this moment ever since and I am extremely proud that we won the first-ever silver medal for Team India and I hope this historic occasion is the start of many to come. I would rank this achievement amongst my best results ever," she added.
Earlier in round one, the Russian Team took the lead in the final as they won the first essay 2.5-1.5. The match results were as follows: Goryachkina 0-1 Harika, Kosteniuk 1-0 Vaishali, Lagno 1-0 Kulkarni, and Kashlinskaya 0.5-0.5 Gomes.
Kateryna Lagno was the star of the CFR Team in the first match. Her victory against Bhakti Kulkarni meant that CFR Team got an upper hand in the first match of the final, putting India in a must-win situation in the return match.
On Friday, in the semi-final clash, India drew the first round 2-2 and then scored a dramatic 2.5-1.5 victory in the second round to beat Georgia with 1.5-0.5 match points in a topsy-turvy encounter.
