Divya Deshmukh highlighted the key reason behind India's memorable golden triumph at the Chess Olympiad 2024 in an exclusive interview with India TV. The young chess Grandmaster played a crucial role in leading India's women's team to a first-ever gold at the Olympiad in Budapest on September 22.
India women's team of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal and Tania Sachdev followed the men's team's footsteps to walk away with two golds to create history. The 18-year-old Divya revealed her happiness in leading the team to golden success on her debut in the main team.
'It all started five years ago and my journey for the Olympiad started at 16 for me," Divya told India TV sports editor Sampir Rajguru. "I played for India B team and I won an individual silver but I am overjoyed that we won an Olympiad Gold on my debut in the main team."
When asked about the reason behind a change in approach by Indian teams at the 2024 Olympiad, the young Grandmaster highlighted the hard work of the entire team and pointed out that the new generation is only targeting gold at big tournaments.
'Success goes to our former players, coaches and players' families as success came after many years of hard work. This generation and the next generation, we have much less fear of failure because our paths have been paved by our senior players. For me, this generation does not settle for silver and that attitude helped us.'
India suffered some hurdles after a strong start but were impressive in the last two rounds to finish on top ahead of Kazakhstan and the United States of America in the women's section. Divya also revealed how the women's team gave their best despite the odds against them in Budapest.
'Personally, I was not expecting that India would return with gold, definitely not two golds. The men's team was always a favourite with so many big names on the roster. We (women's) team were not hoping for anything but we wanted to give our best. We started well in the opening rounds but I was stressing out after some setbacks. But I wanted to give it my best in the last two rounds and we did.'
Meanwhile, the men's team's Vidit Gujrathi also talked about how the hunger for gold among the new generation helped India end their 97-year-old wait for the Chess Olympiad success.
'We all worked very hard," Vidit told India TV. "But what separates this generation from the others is the hunger for the win with risks. We are ready to the the risk and we are entering the tournaments with aggression and this is new India."
