Humpy wins first Gold for India in Asiad

Doha, Dec 4 (UNI) Grandmaster Koneru Humpy did India proud by winning the first Gold medal for the country in chess at the 15th Asian Games here today.

Humpy clinched the Gold in the women's rapid chess to make it a memorable day for the Indians. India's first Gold comes in a game which has been introduced for the first time in Asiad.

Playing flawless chess, the Andhra girl made amends for yesterday loss as she won all three matches this afternoon to take stunning eight points in nine round in the Swiss format.

In the last round, the Indian prodigy outplayed Dana Aketayeva as she displayed brilliant tactics and quick thinking to make her Kazakh rival look like a novice.

''My only mistake was in the sixth round, but I made up with the other games,'' said Humpy, who will play with K Sasikrian and P Harikrishna in the team event next.

Xue Zhao of China took the Silver while Zhu Chen, the Chinese-born Qatari was third for the Bronze.

The Individual events were played on the rapid format with 25 minutes for each play plus 10 seconds incremental time for each move.

Nineteen year-old Humpy, who beat Irina Kharisma Sukandar of Indonesia in the seventh round added the scalp of Mahri Geldyyeva (TKM) in eighth round. At that stage she was half a point ahead of her nearest rivals, which included Zhao of China and Zhu of Qatar who made a late surge.

The first Indian woman to win a world title, Humpy has won a string of world championships in various age group categories.

Coached by her father, Ashok Koneru and she is India's first woman to achieve a men's Grandmaster title.

Today's feat nevertheless, Humpy is far from being satisfied and wants to bag another Gold for the country.

''My ambition is to win two gold medals here,'' she said adding that the Gold gave her immense satisfaction.

Meanwhile there was no such good news from the men's section and K Sasikiran and P Harikrishna, who like Humpy were top seeds, put up a dismal show and finished 11th and 13th respectively.

The men's Gold went to Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan. Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam bagged the Silver and Bu Xiangzhi of China was third.

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