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A moment to rejoice

By Our Sports Reporter

KOZHIKODE JUNE 12. Lakshmi Praneetha was beaming when she came out of the airconditioned hall at Hotel Asma Tower on Thursday. She had every reason to be pleased with herself.

She had just won the Asian under-12 girls' championship, with a round to spare. And she had won six games in a row on her way to her maiden Asian title. "This is easily my best performance in a tournament,'' she told The Hindu.

Lakshmi, who hails from Guntur, one of the most fertile grounds for chess in Andhra, said she had not expected to win the gold when she came here a week ago. "I thought I would win silver or the bronze medal. I had been preparing for this tournament, and that's why I didn't play in the National sub-juniors or the National women's `B'.''

G. Rohit though wanted nothing less than the gold. For, he hadn't won one yet in an international individual meet.

The silver medallist from the last World under-14 championship said he was confident of his chances. "Though there were five or six good players, I thought my strongest rivals would be Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Abhijeet Gupta,'' said the Hyderabad lad. "After beating Truong Son, I was feeling very confident. But it was a pleasant surprise that I could win the title today itself.''

``It's always nice to win a good tournament. Especially after those silver and bronze medals. I wasn't all that tense after my game. And yes, I did follow the second board game keenly. But even if it wasn't drawn, since I needed a draw in the final round, I was feeling confident,'' added Rohit.

P. Lakshmi Sahithi, from Vijayawada, said she was confident of her retaining title.

"And I'm happy that I was able to play well today. I think it was a nice win,'' she added, shortly after posting her sixth straight win.

She said the competition in Teheran was just about as strong as this one.

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