Mallika Handa is a Deaf Chess player from Jalandhar, Punjab. In 2017, Handa had bagged a gold medal at the World Deaf Chess Championship and a silver medal at the Asian Championship in Chess. She has been the national champion in India 7 times. Handa who has been playing chess for the last 10 years has received no financial assistance from the Punjab State Government. She has repeatedly asked the state government for support but they never helpep.

Soon after India’s best ever performance at the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Handa Tweeted Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur & Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmit S Sodhi by saying : 

I am a world champion in Chess. Why is the Punjab government ignoring me? We have been waiting for 8 years. I have not received any job or cash award. I am sitting at home getting depressed day by day no one sees my hard work at all. I request the government to give me a coach & a job. 

Mallika’s mother Renu Handa spoke to ANI and said : 

My daughter is the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the World Deaf Chess Championship.She also received an award from India’s President last year. Despite her immense talent, she has not received any appreciation from the Punjab government. The Punjab government is not even providing a coach to my daughter. Even though she has won so many medals the government is ignoring her. We are from a middle class family, we do not have the money to keep supporting her. We need the government’s help so that she can continue to play in international matches.” 

Tags

• Jalandhar
• Punjab
• deaf
• chess
• requests
• governme

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