Blind chess ace Soundarya Kumar Pradhan made India and his home State Odisha proud by winning team gold and individual silver medal in the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China today. With these two medals, his total in Asian Para Games became three. He won one team silver in the 2018 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Soundarya was part of the Indian men team that emerged champions in Rapid VI-B1 category, scoring 11.5 points out of a possible 14 and remained two points clear of the second placed Iran. Darpan Irani and Ashwin Makwana (both Gujarat) were other two players of the Indian team.

Soundarya secured silver in the individual Rapid VI-B1 event, scoring 5.5 points from seven rounds. He won five games, drew one and lost one. It was not a great beginning for Soundarya as he suffered an early setback in the second round in the form of a loss from Dinh Tuan Son Vietnam.

But the Odisha youth quickly brought himself back in the track and scored four victories and a draw in the remaining five games. He was in a must win situation against Abdullayev Amrillo from Uzbekistan who happened to be the top seed of the event.

Playing with black pieces, Soundarya opted for his most preferred French defense and decimated his opponent with a king side pawn storm. Indian players made a clean sweep of all three medals in the individual Rapid VI-B1 event. Darpan Inani and Ashwin Makwana clinched gold and bronze respectively.
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PHOTO: Soundarya Pradhan poses with his gold and silver medal at the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China on 28 October 2023.