Varshini V, a chess player who has represented the country in several championships, topped the sportspersons category in Anna University’s single- window counselling for engineering admissions.
Varshini, a student of Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School, has been playing chess since Standard V. She has won gold in Commonwealth Chess Championship in the under-16 and bronze in the under-18 category. She has also won bronze at the Asian Youth Chess Championship and is a two-time national champion in the under-17 category.
On Friday, her parents had come to collect the allotment letter on her behalf as she was playing the National Women’s Challenger’s Chess Championship. “If I win tomorrow, I will be one of the 11 women selected to play for the National Premier championship,” she said, adding that this would be the third time she would be playing at the championship.
Naveen Prabu I., a kho-kho player who studied at Sri Saraswathi Vidhya Mandir, Mettupalayam, has also represented the country in Asian championship and in international competitions. The third ranker, M. Swetha, is a carrom player who has represented the State in national championships. Varshini and Swetha have chosen Computer Science Engineering while Naveen has chosen Electronics and Communications Engineering.
Of the 10 toppers, six chose College of Engineering, Guindy while three got into the MIT campus of the University. The tenth ranker, a table tennis player, preferred SSN College of Engineering.
Even as counselling was on, a few parents protested, as their wards were not allowed to participate in counselling despite having applied under the sports category. While eight parents claimed they had not received the text message about the date of counselling, seven others said their wards had not been called for even certificate verification.
The Director of Technical Education S. Madhumathi held a meeting with the aggrieved parents and students. following verification with the service provider they were informed that text messages had been sent. As for those who were not called for certificate verification, the officials said the candidates, had posted the forms which led to them being added to the general pool.
A total of 1,188 candidates were called for the 500 seats in sports category.
