The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Humpy joins ONGC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 15, 2006

Sport

Sport - Chess

Humpy joins ONGC

HYDERABAD : Former world junior chess champion Koneru Humpy has joined the Oil & Natural Gas Commission as personal administrative officer in Hyderabad on Friday.

Speaking to The Hindu, the 19-year-old said the deal also means that ONGC will take care of her expenditure to take part in international events. "There is no bar as such on number of tournaments and the only thing required is that we have to inform the top management well ahead for necessary clearances," she added.

Humpy's first major assignment after a gap of two months since the last Olympiad may be the Malaysian International Open next month or the Laussale championship in Switzerland where only eight players will be in the fray in September.

She said no decision has yet been taken to hire a `second' and that she was happy to continue with her father-cum-coach Koneru Ashok. "All I need is a big break now at the highest level. We have been working hard and on new theories in both openings and end-games. I hope the results will be much better in the days to come," she said.

It was also learnt that the ONGC will take care of only Humpy's travel expenditure while she has to take care of her father's expenses whenever he accompanies her. — Principal Correspondent

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport