44th Chess Olympiad torch relay reaches Manipur
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, July 10 2022: The historic torch relay for 44th Chess Olympiad reached Imphal on Sunday.

MLA S Premchandra re ceived the torch from grandmaster Saptarshi Roy, who reached Imphal with the torch, in an event held at Kangla Fort.

The MLA handed the torch back to the grand master, who will proceed further to Nagaland.

Later, a reception function was held inside the Kangla Fort.

It was hosted by the Manipur Chess Development Association.

The event was marked by a chess game played between grandmaster Saptarshi Roy and young chess players of the state including students from various schools.

"Playing with the grand master will surely give a new taste of the game to the young budding players of the state", said MLA S Premchandra during his speech as chief guest of the reception function.

Despite its small size, Manipur has been actively participating in almost every discipline of sports and brings laurels to the nation in most of the events.

Being India's sports powerhouse full of talented sportspersons, there is no dearth of chess players in the state and state players are not lacking behind in any sports discipline.

In chess too, state's players will one day shine and bring laurels for the state in the national arena as well for the country in the international arena, the MLA said.

He also extended his heartfelt thanks to the parents and guardians of the young budding players who attended the event.

Their participation will surely encourage the players and help in reaching the national and international arenas, Premchandra hoped.

President of the Manipur Chess Development Association, Soibam Mangijao in his presidential speech of the function, informed that Manipur is the 32nd state of the country the torch rally reached.

From here, the torch rally will proceed to Nagaland for its onward rally to other states of the country.

The torch rally will cover 75 iconic places of the country, he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the historic torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad on June 19 at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the torch to the Prime Minister, who in turn handed it over to Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand.

This torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days before the final culmination at Mahabalipuram near Chennai, PIB reported.

Comment