Sport | Other Sports
Participation of professionals 'can lift standards'
Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the president of the Asian Chess Federation feels that the impact of staging the first Asian Chess Champions League successfully in Al Ain has been tremendous.
- By K.R.Nayar, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:19 January 3, 2009
Dubai: Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the president of the Asian Chess Federation feels that the impact of staging the first Asian Chess Champions League successfully in Al Ain has been tremendous.
"It has given a big boost to the sport in the country. The impact will be tremendous not only on our players but also on our organisers," Shaikh Sultan told Gulf News.
"We organised this tournament in Asia to develop the game in the region and we have been successful in our planning and organisation. We had created history in Al Ain by staging such a big tournament for the first time," he added.
"We would like this event to create a huge influence on the local players. We've shown that we are capable as organising international events. Some of our players showed to the world that we are talented too," he remarked proudly.
"Through our organising ability we also showed our hospitality. Some of them who were involved in the organising of the event have gained good experience and they will be able to perform even better in the coming tournaments," he said.
Shaikh Sultan had taken the lead to open the door for foreign professionals to play for clubs in the UAE.
"By allowing professional to play for our clubs we have lifted the standard of chess from a mere club level to a very high stage. We were not bothered about the citizenship of the players but what we wanted was the professionals to play in this event. So hereafter all clubs will come here well prepared for the competition. In future it may not be easy for us or anyone to win this event unless they perform exceedingly well. It will be really nice to see players coming here and participate with good preparation," he said.
Al Ain had won the Championship with players like Ukraine Grand Masters Sergey Karjakin and Zahar Efimenko and Grand Master Gabriel Sargissian from Armenia. They played along with UAE's Hisham Al Taher and Tariq Al Tahe.
Shaikh Sultan also revealed that the Asian Chess Championship league will be held here for the next five consecutive years. "This is the first edition and we plan to stage it even better in the coming years. We may host this tournament for the next five consecutive years. After five years this tournament will be open for bidding and whoever can bid successfully can host it."
Shaikh Sultan is happy with the impact of chess at the school level in Al Ain. "In Al Ain we have attracted schools to take up chess. We have managed to get 5,500 students to get registered as players in Al Ain. We have also opened ten mini centres in schools and offered them our trainers to educate them. Our objective was not to create players to participate in big tournaments but our aim was to create public awareness about chess. We are very happy with the support from the Al Ain Education Centre, who welcomed the idea," he concluded.
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