Budget 2024: India's chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa finds mention in Nirmala Sitharaman's speech

India’s chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa found a special mention during Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech while presenting the interim budget in Parliament on Thursday. While presenting the budget, the seasoned politician praised India’s youth for “scaling new heights” in sports. The BJP leader acknowledged India’s historic performance at the Asian Games and Asian Para Games 2023 and also praised Praggnanandhaa for reaching the Chess World Cup final. Sitharaman also shared that India now has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to 20+ in 2010. “The country is proud of our youth scaling new heights in sports. The highest ever medal tally in Asian Games and Asian Para Games in 2023 reflects a high confidence level. Chess prodigy and our Number-One ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsson in 2023.” she said. “Today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to little over 20 in 2010.”

Hon'ble Finance Minister, Shrimati @nsitharaman ji highlighted the notable achievements of the Indian contingent during her addressal speech of #Budget2024

Nirmala ji further reiterated that during the year 2023, our nation achieved its most substantial medal count to date in… pic.twitter.com/v0blCTbiFv

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) February 1, 2024

Praggnanandhaa had a dream run at Chess World Cup 2023 where he reached the final before going down to world No 1 Magnus Carlsen in a tie-breaker after the classic games ended in a stalemate.