‘Chess prodigy and our number-one ranked player Praggnanandhaa….’ – Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman praises youth for taking sports to new heights
Nirmala Sitharaman announces the interim budget.
On Thursday, February 1st, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the interim budget. While being happy about the youth who have reached new heights in sports, Sitharaman mentioned the name of the eighteen-year-old grandmaster of India, R Praggnanandhaa. Sitharaman praised the prodigy and stated that Indian children are becoming increasingly accomplished athletes.
Sitharaman said, “The country is proud of our youth scaling new heights in sports. The highest-ever medal tally in Asian Games and Asian Para Games in 2023 reflects a high confidence level. Chess prodigy and our number-one ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsson in 2023. Today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to little over 20 in 2010.”
R Praggnanandhaa went past the legendary Viswanathan Anand to become India’s number-one ranked player. Despite 2024 being an Olympic Year, Sitharaman did not declare any modifications to the sports budget for 2024–2025. The budget for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is Rs 3398 crores, the same as the previous year.
Who is R Praggnanandha?
R Praggnanandhaa is the number-one ranked chess player in India. The 18-year-old kid from Chennai started his Chess journey at the age of five. From then, he became India’s youngest and the then world’s second-youngest Grandmaster at age 12 in 2018. He’s also the fifth youngest player to become the Grandmaster. Before him, Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov had the title.
The rise of R Praggnanandhaa happened after he finished the 2023 FIDE World Cup as the runner-up in the prestigious event. Even though he lost the World Cup, he impressed the Chess fraternity with his abilities and made the entire country proud. In the finals, he lost to the legendary Magnus Carlsen but had an impactful tournament. Moreover, India had a good time in the Asian and Asian Para Games in 2023.
