Agencies
LONDON, Oct 12: Chess Olympiad gold-medallist Vantika Agrawal is someone who has learnt the sport the hard way. Hailing from Noida in Uttar Pradesh, she had little chess infrastructure to motivate her to pursue the sport. However, her determined mother, who wanted her children to excel in whatever they pursued, supported Vantika in overcoming numerous challenges and making a mark in a sport dominated by players from South India. Vantika finally helped India achieve its biggest glory in team chess by winning the first-ever Olympiad gold in Budapest recently. Vantika, 21, is now aiming to become a Grandmaster, which could happen as early as next year. But she knows the challenges that lie ahead -- the least being the countless tournaments she will have to play across the world and the monetary burden it will put on her parents. "It has not at all been easy reaching this level, because the culture here (in north India) is all about excelling in academics, and if you want to play chess or any other sport, you need to devote extra time to that," said Vantika, who is a brand ambassador of the ongoing Tech Mahindra Global Chess League here. "I remember that even in school while they were supporting me, nobody really knew about chess. So, when I used to go and tell them about my achievements, they were completely uninterested... I mean, even in Shri Ram College of Commerce, where I completed my B.Com (Hons), they still don't know that I have won the Olympiad gold," says Vantika, whose mother quit her job with a leading multinational to be with her daughter as she pursued success in the sport. For Vantika, the Hangzhou Asian Games women's team silver medallist last year, chess started out of curiosity to explore more sport after she had dabbled a bit in arts, music, dance, karate and a lot of other things during 'zero' period in school.
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