Double World Under 8 Champion Ivana Furtado created another record by
winning the Goa Under 9 Girls category for the third consecutive time. In
the last round which was played at the BPS Club Margao, she beat Gauri
Hadkonkar to finish with a perfect score of 5 out 5 possible points. Gauri
had to remain content with the second place in this keenly contested event.
Ivana was felicitated on the occasion by reputed table tennis coach Subodh
Shevde and presented a cash award as well. She will now represent Goa along
with 4 other girls - Gauri Hadkonkar (4 pts), Riya Sawant (4 pts), Saloni
Bandekar (4 pts) and Sakshi Prabhu (3 pts) - in the upcoming National Under
9 Girls Chess
Championship to be played in New Delhi from the 28th of April. Riya Sawant,
who stood in the top 10 in two National Championships in the same year, was
also felicitated at the prize distribution and given a cash award.
In the Boys section, it was Anirudh Bhat of Margao with 6 points who stood
first after drawing with Ritviz Parab in the crucial last round. Anirudh
built up a strong position and actually was slightly better when Ritviz
offered him a draw. He gleefully accepted as he knew that half a point would
suffice to give him the title. The boys team that will represent Goa in the
upcoming Nationals includes Anirudh Bhat, Ritviz Parab (5.5 pts), Saish
Bandodkar (5.5 pts) and Snehil Shetty (5 pts).
The tournament was jointly organised by the Curchorem Chess Club and BPS
Sports Club. Santosh George, who is the Secretary of BPS Sports Club, was
the Chief Guest for the Prize Distribution. Dattaram Pinge and Avinash
Malvankar were the chief arbiters and Standrik Colaco did the pairings.
Incidentally, both the winners - Ivana and Anirudh - are being coached by
Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale.
SOURCE: Sameer Salgaocar - President - GSCA
