India won double gold at the 2024 Chess Olympiad© X (Twitter)
India created history by winning double gold at the 2024 Chess Olympiad, with both the men’s and women’s teams winning their first gold medals. The men’s team defeated Slovenia after D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanadhaa won their respective matches in their final round match. The women’s team won their final match against Azerbaijan to take home the top prize. Vantika Agrawal was one of the members who impressed in the Indian team and she told NDTV that the men’s and women’s team players were extremely proud to end India’s wait for the gold medal at the Olympics.
“I feel so happy. When we won the medal we were on top of the world. We didn’t even know how to express ourselves. Winning double gold and that too for the first time. In the last 100 years , India “I didn’t win a gold and even last time it was a bronze medal and now it’s a double gold medal. We are so proud to play for India and we are very happy,” Vantika Agarwal said in an interview to NDTV.
“We planned this. We planned that when we won the medal, we would do this dance, this celebration, we would do reels and go to dinner. Before the tournament, we were the top seeds and it was kind of expected that we will win a medal. There was a lot of pressure because we were playing on the first board but after the match against Poland, we were two points ahead. After the defeat against Poland, we had to play against the States. -United and after defeat of Vaishali (Rameshbabu), all the pressure was on me, I knew I had to win and I was sure to play the best chess of my life for my team and my country.
“There was a lot of pressure from start to finish. But I wasn’t thinking about anything and I just knew I was playing for India. There were a lot of people watching and I had no choice but to play well. I knew everything would work out if I did my best,” Vantika explained.
Vantika also said that her inspiration was legendary chess player Viswanathan Anand and also added that she was a fan of multiple world champion Magnus Carlsen.
“My inspiration is Viswanathan Anand who is a five-time world champion. He continues to motivate us and he will even be there for us in Hungary. I am also a fan of Magnus Carlsen,” she concluded.
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