Chennai: All India Chess Federation (AICF) Secretary D V Sundar on Friday denied that he had agreed to meet world no 2 Koneru Humpy's father's expenses for the World Indoor Games or permitting the latter to accompany his daughter as her trainer.
In a strong rejoinder to the charges made by Humpy that the confusing situation created by Sundar had forced her to pull out the Games, the AICF secretary told UNI, "It is a lie to say that AICF
had agreed to spend for Koneru Ashok."
He sought to clarify that it was for the first time that in India AICF had arranged back-to-back tournaments, one in Delhi and the other in Chennai.
He said these tournaments attracted more than 20 Grand Masters.
"It is our wish that players like Humpy should participate in such events. In fact, we have been repeatedly asked by our members, chess lovers and the press as to why we are not pressurising all top players to play in India. Therefore, we want players like her to play", Sundar said.
He said Humpy had never sought the permission of AICF to participate in any tournament before.
"The first time, we received a request in August and we didn't deny her any permission," he added.
Meanwhile, Humpy said, "The first time in my career when I went alone (without my father and personal trainer Koneru Ashok) to play in the Chess Olympiad at Turin, Italy in 2006, I kept falling sick throughout the tourney, "Humpy said.
She said inspite under medication throughout the tourney, "I played 12 games out of 13. Then Sundar issued a warning letter to me stating that as I didn't wear the T-shirts provided by the AICF and that he would initiate action against me if this was repeated."
Stating that Sundar was very passionate about issuing such warning letters to players, Humpy said a recent victim was Grand Master G N Gopal.
She alleged that Sundar's chess understanding was 'very poor'.
"He insists I play in all tournaments he can think of and if don't accept he creates hurdles," she added.
"Being the World No 2 player, I have am selective of tournaments. I have to keep my rating and world ranking in mind. I think that a person who doesn't know the game and doesn't know my preparation strategies can't really blindly insist that I go play certain tournaments," she said.
However, she conceded that despite Sundar's 'ridiculous' administrative techniques, AICF was still producing good results as there were some good organisers who knew thier chess like Bharat Singh Chauhan, R M Dongre and Soumen Majumdar - all of whom frequently conducted international events.
She said, "Sundar is testing my patience. Everytime, I adjust myself and let things pass without making an issue. But every now and then he troubles me and I can't bear this any longer."
"If a world level player like me is suffering because of him then I shudder to think as to what the condition of upcoming players will be like," she added.
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