At the 2024 FIDE Chess Olympiad in Hungary on Sunday, September 22, the men’s and women’s teams from India achieved history by becoming the first in their country to win gold medals. Upon their return to Chennai this morning, R Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali were met with a warm welcome from admirers at the airport. Since very few nations have ever won the men’s and women’s titles at the same time, Praggnanandhaa hailed the feat as historic.
“This is a proud moment for all of us, and I believe this win will make chess more popular in India,” said he.
D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna were among the notable men’s players, while Tania Sachdev, Divya Deshmukh, R Vaishali, Vantika Agarwal, and Harika Dronavalli were among the women’s players.
While the women’s team won bronze in 2022 at the Chennai Olympiad, the men’s team had earlier shared gold with Russia during the COVID-19 event. Each team won gold this year, and individuals D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agarwal also took home medals for their boards.
