The stars of the Indian chess team, which won a bronze medal in the Tromso Olympiad in Norway, were given a rousing welcome at the Chennai airport by the chess fraternity early on Sunday morning.
The two key players from the Indian team — Krishnan Sasikiran and S.P. Sethuraman — as well as the coach of the team, Grandmaster R.B. Ramesh arrived by the Qatar Airways flight at 3 a.m. The other three team members were B. Adhiban, M.R. Lalith Babu and Parimarjan Negi.
Sasikiran, who also won the silver medal for his stellar performance on Board 3, said that great team spirit and camaraderie was the main reason for this historic triumph.
Sasikiran said the team had gathered together almost a month back and the strategies as to the board order, etc. were discussed in detail and worked out.
“We all were able to execute the plan to perfection,” said Sasi, who was also all praise for the coach Ramesh. “Ramesh Sir was always there with his pearls of wisdom and experience and made us adapt quickly to the different circumstances during the Olympiad,” said Sasi.
