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D Gukesh revealed that he hasn’t spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet but is looking forward to meeting him soon.
D Gukesh is now the youngest-ever World Chess Champion. (Image: Chiranjeevi/X)
D Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren to become the youngest-ever owner of the world title at just 18 years of age.
Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Gukesh Dommaraju revealed that he hasn’t spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet but is looking forward to meeting him soon.
“I was super excited to see honourable Prime Minister sir’s tweet after we had won the match. Not only this match (world championship final) but also after the candidates and the Olympiad. We had met with him and it was a huge honour and hopefully in the next few days then I will be able to meet the honourable Prime Minister and get his support,” D Gukesh told CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview.
When Gukesh was informed that he had been nominated for CNN-News18 Indian of the Year in the Rising Sports Star category, he said: “Well, I’m super honoured to know that. I’m really glad. Thank you.”
He has been nominated along with Olympians wrestler Aman Shrawat and shooter Sarabjot Singh as well as cricketers Abhishek Sharma and Sahfali Verma.
The winners will be announced and honoured on January 17 in the national capital as D Gukesh said that he “would be honoured and love to attend the event.”
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When asked about the fact that he is no longer the challenger but the champion, he said: “To be honest, it does not mean it’s obviously the world champion title, the win and the kind of support that I see from India, the world of chess. It means a lot to me. But my overall approach does not change much because I still want to have a long career late a lot of just keep working hard and try try to reach my full potential and become the best player in the world. And I think in and I think in terms of that, it’s still a very, very long way to yeah, I’m just really looking forward to the whole journey. And I strongly believe this is just the start of a very long and enjoyable enjoyable journey.”