July 25, 2005

Koneru Humpy

Humpy with her dad

This post is to show that we are concerned that Humpy is fighting to get a new sponsorship in place so that she can prepare for her World Championships & her future career.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

off topic....

Considering your earlier posts on chess,sponsorship etc thought you might be interested in this

Read this

Sad state of affairs!

Kannappan said...

Hi Karthik, Thanks for pointing out.

Some good corporates have to come forward to sponsor Humpy. She has it in her. Just a few days back, she won a top class tournament.

I read that she had requested for a Rs.20 Lakh aid from the state government for preparing for the World Championship and it seems that CM Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy has said that government can afford to provide only Rs. 5 lacs, that too after a long bureaucratic process. I wont blame him.

I wont blame Bank of Baroda either. They have their own priorities. Its like choosing between basic science and Java. Java earns you money that you can see, Basic science may not see its fruits or to put it the other way, people cannot so easily see the value generated by basic science and they tend to take the safe route. Same with the companies, they cannot expect the same level of publicity that cricket generates from chess. Its quite natural that they take the safe route. But we need to prove that we also have people/companies who believe in basic science, who believe in real longterm growth.

My feeling is that incidents like these may silently take a toll on the player. A little help from Telugu NRIs or for that matter any NRI will be a great start.

I was very impressed by a story that appeared in Hindu a few years back, which had its title as A Good Samaritan, where a person by name Kumar Ramachandran had read somewhere that Nisha Mohota was desperately in need of a laptop to learn and practice chess to make her final Woman GrandMaster norm. He offered to spare his laptop to her until she completed her WGM norm. She used the laptop, became a Woman GrandMaster in a year or so, felt happy about it and returned the laptop while retaining the indebtedness feeling.
I love to read such stories, who doesn't?

Some company will hopefully come to Humpy's rescue. But it would be a tough time until then for the player and her father who also doubles up as her coach.

Humpy is a girl whom many future kids will try to emulate and overwhelm, so its important that a successfull history is scripted.

Anonymous said...

Eventually someone will end up sponsoring her at the last minute ( I hope!! ). But it brings out in open the uncertainty involved in sports such as these.

She has to go through this heartbreak even after winning so many tournaments unlike some who get sponsored despite never actually winning anything.

I can imaginge a thousand young hopefuls' listening to a talk from their parents right now about how they should take up something other than full time sport.

Frustrating that even when the odd talent breaks through at world level, impediment after impediment is thrown in their way.

It is almost a crime to cut out her funding just when she is about to step onto the largest stage, the world championship! Atleast care must be taken that she has a new sponsor before the current one drops out.

Its not that she "has potential and might win". She has won enough to merit continuous sponsorship!

Its in such acts that often indian sport gets stagnated and then we all complain about lack of olympians/world champions etc.

Kannappan said...

Atleast care must be taken that she has a new sponsor before the current one drops out.

Thats correct. This is a mistake on the part of Bank of Baroda.

But what is the government doing. Atleast an assurance from either the Prime Minister/President/Sports minister would have done a great deal of good. She is an Arjuna Awardee dudes!.

And Yeah common people like us have to start making a little bit of difference like what Kumar Ramachandran did.

Anonymous said...

Any idea if she found any sponsor? Havent found any news about her after that.

Kannappan said...

Even I haven't seen any update

Anonymous said...

its so sad and dis heartening to know that india being such a vast country and never ever had any proper sponsors to those individuals who are doing their best and flying high in the field. came to know that all these sponsors by the big corporates is a big gamble .

Anonymous said...

Of the latest news so far she has not got any one to come forward and say we will do it for you. There are soooo many was company with big fat budgest for advertising etc but not one can come forward to help her. Her results speak of her succes. ITs a not Cricket or Tennis where we get few hundreds of people to chat and motivate, its all the self motivation game and personal ambitions. Hope some kind corporate soul will come up with sponsor ships.

Anonymous said...

may be we should write to the minisitry and put up a memorandum to look into this matter,
can we get some thing written to the ministries . Would all the bloggers who are intersted in this matter unite and write .

Kannappan said...

Hi Srini, Thanks a lot for your comments and interest. We should do something atleast to show that we are concerned.

Anonymous said...

hi kannappa, your are most welcome, currently Humpy is in Kualalumpur for the Malaysia Chess Open and due to this non avaliablity of the Sponsor ship she has to bear all the expenses to come and participate for the Tournanment . I really admire her grit and determination to go on. I wish her all the best. ITs very heart wrenching to hear from her about thesponsor ship . I just pray that the spirt of her sportswoman is not killed. Definetly if given proper support and good facilities she can be soon World No 1 Women Grandmaster

Kannappan said...

At times its funny to see that our country doesnt have or doesnt seem to have the resources/interest to support players of World Class calibre to participate in World Championships.

If you are not able to promote right talent, Who is going to care if your sensex will reach 12,000 points or not.

Ramesh said...

Sportspersons should be supported at every level. They actually help to boost the ego of the nation and thus help the nation very much. They actually play a invisble pivotal role in sensex reaching 12000 points.

Again it is the same old story of corporates not servind India's cause. They want a rupee for every paise they put in.

May be we should write to Mr and Mrs. Murthy, Tatas etc.

Anonymous said...

hi ramesh i share with you the same view, i heard from my own sources MR n MRs Moorthy's have totally stopped the sponsorships due various misfired ventures with the sports bodies
I am amazed why the sporting body or federation of the Chess also dont bother about this top ranked players and give their hand to get them going. May be whe shoud write to ministries and corporates as suggested.

Kannappan said...

Ramesh & Srini, I agree with your views wholeheartedly.

We have to prepare a report. Anybody who is intrested in assisting or colloborating with us is very welcome. Please post your views or concerns on this blog or email me at deshkanna AT gmail DOT com. Your support will be very handy & helpful

Ramesh/Srini/Karthik and any willing guys, I would suggest we start preparing a report from what little sources we have. Lets start off individually and later combine the info into one pdf or presentation or a webpage. Then lets get the comments or a voice of support from as many people as possible.

Once we do our work, we can confidently put forth our concerns to the right people.

Anonymous said...

hi guys, what do u think of puttin gup a petition to the sports ministry at federal level and state level

Kannappan said...

Hi Srini, Thats a good suggestion. You have any ideas how to proceed.

Ramesh said...

Good work Kannappa. Apart from individual mails, which we will send, we shall make a petition (as said by Srini) highlighting her credentials with facts like FIDE rating, championships won etc, and the future hope she provides to many Indians, and send (fax,email,snail mail) it to sports ministry, president and to other corporates.

We shall not spam them but a concise and effective presentation of the case.

Kannappan said...

Hi Ramesh, Rightly said.

We can definitely put together a document and present it. My suggestion would be Lets have some rough draft on the table by Wednesday September 7.

Ramesh said...

I was in LV for the long weekend.
Arrived yesterday night.

Any updates on this?

Kannappan said...

Hey, here is a start for the petition. (We may need to modify and further develop it):

"We the citizens of India, petition the Union Sports Ministry to support the travelling and coaching expenses of our country's foremost woman chess player WGM Koneru Humpy. Humpy has had no sponsor for the past few months thereby causing her considerable financial difficulties. Most of her chess tournaments including the forthcoming Womens World Chess Championships involve travelling and residing in foreign countries during the course of the tournament which will be very expensive for Humpy to bear it on her own. We request you to consider this matter of national importance and provide the required assistance.

Yours Sincerely,
The Undersigned "

References :
1. NDTV Report
2. Hindu Article

Kannappan said...

Next Step : Modify if possible and finalise the petition by Friday morning (September 16) IST.

Kaps said...

glad to know that you are doing your bit to promote other sports. thanks for visiting my blog.

Shuuro said...

Its really nice to see someone thinking to do something instead of limiting their actions to blog. I know this isn't what you expecting(support) but perhaps active participation in your effort but sorry i'm going somewhere so couldn't take part for now.

Kannappan said...

Hi Kaps & Shurro, Thanks for your comments.

Kannappan said...

Regarding the petition, I have submitted one to sulekha for reviewal