Minister KTR extends support to Malika Handa, deaf and dumb International Chess Champion from Punjab

Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao extended his support to Malika Handa, a deaf and dumb International Chess Champion from Punjab on Monday.

The chess player met KTR in Hyderabad today.

The Minister had earlier spoken to Malika via Twitter where he promised to help her. Following that, Malika Handa flew down from Jalandhar to Hyderabad at KTR's invitation. As promised, the Minister extended financial support of Rs 15 Lakh and handed over a cheque for the same today.

The statement released by KTR stated that after hearing Malika's plight and the Punjab government's unfair treatment towards her, he asked her to visit him for help. Besides Rs 15 Lakh, the minister also gifted her a laptop that would help her to participate in the online chess championship.

During the meeting, KTR said, "Malika has brought laurels to the country. We are proud of what she has achieved till now and she definitely deserves all the credit for the hard work that she has put in."

Minister spoke to Malika and sought her views on policies that can benefit disabled sportspersons of Telangana. He asked the government officials to study the best policy frameworks which can be adapted to benefit disabled sportspersons. Minister KTR also appealed to Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur to help Malika get a Central government job.

Malika while interacting with KTR said, "Chess is not seen as a mainstream sport by the Govt of India yet. I am overwhelmed with the warm welcome and support received from the Telangana Government. My heartfelt thanks to Minister KTR for recognising me and supporting me."

Malika Handa (26) is an Indian professional chess player who is deaf & dumb. She finished her Bachelors in Arts and was the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the International Deaf Chess Championship in 2016, which took place in Armenia. Malika was not born deaf, she lost her hearing and speech ability when she was one-year-old. Now, she lives with a 90 per cent hearing disability. She began to play chess at the age of 15 and has won the national deaf chess championship six times till now.

She is the only woman from Punjab to have represented the state nine times in national championships and has won one gold and two silvers in the world deaf chess championship and as well as in the Asian deaf chess championship. Malika is now preparing for the World Championship which is scheduled to take place in September 2022 in Poland.

Atul, Mallika's brother, while speaking tostated that Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao invited us here to Telangana. "Our Punjab government didn't give us this respect. Mallika was specially invited and honoured here in Hyderabad. We are happy that they are bringing us here on the National platform. The Telangana government recognised whereas the Punjab government refused to recognise her talent."

"Mallika is expecting to be given equal rights along with para players and normal players. So that she can go ahead in life", Atul added.

( With inputs from ANI )

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