Goa Carbon Ltd brand ambassador, Bhakti Kulkarni seen with the winner’s trophy after her triumph at the Asian junior chess championship in Colombo on Wednesday.
PANAJI: Goa Carbon brand ambassador and Goa’s first woman grandmaster, Bhakti Kulkarni (8 points) outwitted Sri Lankan Dissanayake in a flurry of attacking chess to annex the Asian junior girls crown at Bentota Beach Resort, Colombo on Wednesday.
Bhakti, who had won Asian Under 14 (2006) and Asian Under 18 (2010) titles earlier in her illustrious career, grabbed the title held earlier by former World Champion Xie Jun (China), G M Koneru Humpy among others. The World Chess Federation awards the winner with a norm of Woman Grandmaster and Bhakti will have seeding in the World junior champion (Athens, Greece) and Asian junior championship (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) in 2012.
Bhakti is elated and at the same time overwhelmed by the responsibility the championship has put on her shoulders.
"I have to prepare well for the World junior with some specialised training," said the Goan star.
This year has been the most successful in Bhakti’s career. A student of Chowgule College, Margao, she won total four norms of International Woman Grandmaster in just seven international tournaments she has played this year.
"I do not remember any man or woman doing this," commented Indian team’s coach K Murugan during the prize distribution ceremony in Colombo.
Bhakti gave the credit of her speedy improvement to her coach, Raghunandan Gokhale, a Dronacharya awardee.
"Sir planned my tournaments and prepared me well against all the opponents. Without his guidance, it was not possible for me to achieve these feats. I owe all this success to Mr Shrinivas Dempo and Gokhale sir."
It was nostalgic time for Gokhale. His wife Ms Anupama had won the first-ever Asian Junior Championship at Adelaide, Australia in 1985.
"After 26 years I am enjoying one of my students winning the Asian Junior title and I am very happy," said the veteran. Gokhale will be leaving for Indonesia with another batch of his students in a couple of days and will not be able to attend Bhakti’s felicitation at the airport.
The sports lovers in Goa are eagerly waiting for Bhakti to greet her with a rousing welcome. Bhakti will reach Goa on Thursday afternoon by a flight from Mumbai.
