There is something about Cholleti Sahajasri – unique and different. As a six-year old, she took up yoga and soon mastered 300 asanas to fine tune her mental and physical strengths. At seven, Sahajasri tried hands at chess and was soon winning world titles under various age groups. Few years later, the going got tough and she started having trouble finding sponsors. This affected her as a chessplayer and a disgruntled Sahajasri took a break from the game to concentrate in education.
Two years later, the Karimnagar-born girl is back, with a bang. She has clinched titles at the Telangana Women’s and Open chess tournaments.
The 19-year-old says her new vigour and enthusiasm is the result of hope she has pinned on the Telangana government. The government recently provided a few hockey players with financial support – Sahajasri is hopeful of similar support. “If I get the help of government, I will be able to perform better,’’ said Sahajasri.
For Sampath Reddy and Sarala, their daughter was prodigiously talented from a young age. “She got into yoga because her mother was a yoga teacher. She mastered asanas very quickly,’’ said Sampath, a mathematics teacher. Sahajasri excelled in the National Yoga Championship to bag medals but her best was to come on the chess board. It all happened at a local tournament in Karimnagar. “We were stunned at her proficiency in the game. We straightaway decided to encourage her to master it,’’ recalled Sampath. Grandmaster Koneru Humpy was her role model. “I grew watching her games. I felt if she could do it, I stand a chance too,’’ said Sahajasri.
Sahajasri has announced her arrival with a bang – won a gold medal in the under-10 World chess championship in Georgia in 2008. Buoyed by that success, she reigned supreme in the 2006 Asian championship by clinching a gold at Tehran, then a gold in Commonwealth Chess meet at Mumbai. She had to settle for silver in subsequent international meets.
By this time, her parents started feeling the financial crunch. With no help from the State government, Sampath had to sell their house in Karimnagar to send her to the Asian Youth Championship in China in 2010. “We were promised that we would be getting financial incentives for her performances in international events. But that never happened and soon it became difficult fir us to send her to tournaments,’’ said Sampath.
Sahajasri, has now shifted to Hyderabad. Though she hopes of becoming a chartered accountant, in the meanwhile, she is back, where she is best. On her comeback trial, she even beat the likes of Grandmaster MR Lalith Babu in a Mumbai tournament. Having an Elo rating of 2,002, her immediate priority is to garner another 198 points to earn International Masters title norm. “I thought I played reasonably well in the two tournaments so far. This has encouraged me to take up the game in all seriousness,’’ she concluded.