Rohan Ahuja of Sharda Mandir High School clinched the title in the boys category of the U/13 Chess State Selection conducted by Canacona Sports Academy by drawing with Ritviz Parab in the 6th round & defeating Anirudh Bhat in the 7th round respectively. Ritviz Parab drew with Rishubh Naik in the last round and had to be content with the 2nd spot collecting 6 points. Rishubh Naik won the 3rd place scoring 5.5points. Other prize winners in the boys section were : 4th Deeptesh Karmalkar, 5th Tatvesh Sawant.Riddhi Zantye won the Girls u/13 State Selection title by scoring 5.5points out of 6 and remaining unbeaten in the progress. She defeated 2nd Seeded Gauri Hadkonkar in the last round and drew with Vidula Dempo in the penultimate round. Vidula Dempo scored 5points and was declared 2nd. Following are the other placings: 3rd Aishwarya Thorat, 4th Gauri Hadkonkar, 5th Urvi Bandekar.
The Top 2 winners in both the categories will represent Goa at the Nationals to be held in Delhi in October.
Additional age group category prizes were given to the following players :
under7girls – Vrunda Naik,
under7 boys – Jayden Gonsalves,
under 9 Girls – Pranali Desai
under 9 Boys – Saiesh Audi
under 11 Girls – Aditee Prabhugaonkar
under 11 Boys – Aston Dias
Local prizes were given for Canacona Taluka Prizes. The winners in this category are
Aditya Patil, Pawan Vernekar, Akshay Shet, Sidhant Prabhudesai in boys and Neshma Metri, Priyanka Kothulkar in the girls category.
Ramakanth Naik Gaonkar was the Chief Guest at the Prize Distribution Ceremony and handed over the prizes in the presence of Councillor, Nagarcem ward CMC Canacona Mrs. Suchita Raganath Naik Gaonkar, Manager SBI Canancona Mr. Sunil Melvani, President of Goa Chess Association Mr. Ashesh Keni, Secretary of Canacona Sports Academy Mr. Anant Agni, Vice-President of Canacona Sports Academy and Exec. Committee Member of Goa Chess Association Mr. Sharendra Naik. Mr. Anant Agni, secretary of Canacona Sports Academy welcomed the gathering. Miss Nikila Naik compered the function. Mr. Sharendra Naik proposed the Vote of Thanks.