Goa Carbon Goodwill Ambassador Bhakti Kulkarni is the New Commonwealth Woman Chess Champion! The Woman Grandmaster continued to surpass milestones in her glowing career by winning Gold in the star studded event at Glasgow,Scotland. Goans made a rich haul by winning medals in the age group sections,too. Rishabh Naik (Under 18 Boys),Riya Savant (Under 14 Girls) and Nitish Belurkar (Under 14 Boys) were the silver medallists in their respective categories..
Bhakti proved the seedings wrong by winning the Commonwealth Women Championship ahead of three members of Indian Olympiad Contingent. " I am very proud of this Gold medal because I had to come ahead of former Asian Woman Champion Tania Sachdev, former World Junior Champion Soumya Swaminathan and National Woman Champion Mary Ann Gomes" said the elated Champion. Bhakti is the first Goan to win Commonwealth Gold in women's category though she had been Commonwealth Junior Girls' Champion in 2012. The ever smiling Arts student from Margao thus sealed Goa's place on International Chess map. Bhakti's coach Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale had one more reason to cheer. " Nitish Belurkar was unlucky not to win Gold.even though he was tied with Champion Abdulla Murad of Scotland.. However I am happy that both of my students won medals for India., said the veteran coach. Nitish is the student of Sharda Mandir High School,Miramar and had already won Gold in World Under 9 School Championship in 2010. Both Bhakti and Nitish have been invited to play in the Vaujany International Chess Tournament, France where the International tournament will begin on 10th July. Message over... -- *Ms. Bhakti Kulkarni,* *Asian Indoor Games Double Medalist,* *Goodwill Ambassador for GCL,* *International Woman Grand Master,* *Goa,India.*
