DIBRUGARH: The first ever torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad reached Dibrugarh town in Assam on Wednesday.
The 72nd chess Grandmaster Mitrabha Guha carried the torch and handed it over to Assam sports minister Bimal Borah in Dibrugarh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 19, 2022, inaugurated the first ever torch relay for 44th Chess Olympiad in New Delhi.
The 44th edition of the event will be held at Mahabalipuram in Chennai from July 28 to August 10.
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Speaking at the programme, Bimal Borah said, “Today is a historic and happy day for Dibrugarh District Sports Association because the first ever torch relay for 44th Chess Olympiad reached Dibrugarh.”
“For creating awareness on Chess game, the torch relay will travel 75 cities.
Over 200 countries will participate in the Chees Olympiad at Mahabalipuram.
We are fortunate that for the first time we get an opportunity to host the mega event.
The Chess game was first introduced in India during Gupta Empire and after that, it was moved to other countries,” Borah asserted.
The international Chess body, FIDE for the very first time has instituted the torch relay, which is part of the Olympic tradition but was never done in the Chess Olympiad.
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FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the torch to the Prime Minister who gave it to the legendary Viswanathan Anand.
Dibrugarh Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu, Intikabar Rahman, Vice president of All Assam Chess Association, Duliajan MLA Terash Gowala, ADC Sanjay Dutta, and DDA chairman Ashim Hazarika were present among others. The programme was held at Multipurpose indoor sports hall in Dibrugarh.