The Hindu : Sport : Plan to spread chess awareness during World Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Plan to spread chess awareness during World Cup

KOCHI, AUG. 10. Chess hopes to ride the tourism bus when the World Junior Championships arrive in Kochi this November. Along with the quality fare, tourism was also the theme when India last hosted the Junior Worlds in Goa two years ago.

The Junior Worlds, which run from November 18 to December 1, will also mark the arrival of big-time chess to the city.

"We should cash in on this big event to spread chess awareness all over Kerala. And we will have a pre-World Cup all over the State to promote the event," said the State Sports Minister K.Sudhakaran at a small function here on Tuesday organised to announce the organising committee for the forthcoming championship.

"We promise all our support for the event. We also plan to have a 10-day sports exhibition and a sports seminar during the event," said Mr Sudhakaran who will be the organising committee chairman for the Junior Worlds.

"World champions of the future will be here. The winners of the past editions include Kasparov, Karpov, Anand and Spassky," said the FIDE vice-president and AICF secretary P.T.Ummer Koya who will be the event's organising secretary.

"The Goan Government gave us Rs 50 lakh when India last hosted the Junior Worlds. The Kerala Government has also promised us strong support for the coming edition," said Mr Koya. And expectedly, the Kerala Chief Minister A.K.Antony, has been named as the chief patron of the organising committee. The event carries a budget of Rs 1.5 crore. — Our Principal Correspondent

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