Vishwanathan Anand and Dola Banerjee awarded by Sports Ministry

New Delhi, Jan 8 (UNI) Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mani Shankar Aiyar today presented Rs 10 lakh each to Vishwanathan Anand and Dola Banerjee for their outstanding achievements in 2007.

Vishwanathan Anand won the World Chess Championship held in Mexico City last year while Dola Banerjee made India proud by winning the World Cup title in the Recurve Women's Division held in Dubai.

While Dola personally collected the cash prize from Aiyar, Honorary secretary, Indian Chess federation, Shri Sunder collected the prize on Anand's behalf.

Sunder at the occasion, said that the government's constant support is one of the prime reasons for India's good perfances in chess.

UNI RAR RS1846