Vizag, AP girl wins U-9 National silver medal

M. Sahithi Varshini did the city proud by winning silver medal in the National under-9 chess championship for girls at Jalandhar on Tuesday. She finished runner-up to B. Savitha Sri of Tamil Nadu after securing 10 out of possible 11 points and remained unbeaten.

Sahithi Varshini became the first girl from the region to win the national age group title, secretary of the district chess association Cheela Ramesh said. By finishing runner-up Sahithi Varshini has qualified to play in the World cadet girls under-10 championship to be held in Brasilia in Brazil in August 2017 and the Asian under-10 girls championship 2017.

A third standard student of De Paul’s School, steel plant, Sahithi was initiated into chess two years ago by her father-cum-coach Lokeswara Rao, a senior officer with the HPCL and chess player Rama Kumar.District chess association president Anand Kumar and other office-bearers and senior chess players of Visakhapatnam congratulated Sahithi.