Telangana: KT Rama Rao extends support to international chess champion Malika Handa

HYDERABAD: Telangana minister and TRS working president KT Rama Rao extended financial help to a deaf and dumb international chess champion

Malika Handa

in Hyderabad on Monday.


The chess player from Punjab Malika Handa met KTR on his invitation. The minister earlier responded to a video of Malika on twitter and offered to extend support. As promised, KTR extended a financial support of Rs. 15 Lakh and handed over a cheque to her.

KTR said that he called Malika in his personal capacity after hearing about her plight and the unfair treatment she was receiving from the Punjab government. Along with the cheque, he also handed over a laptop that would help her participate in online chess championships.

During the meeting, the minister said she brought laurels to the country. "Many congratulations. You have won the world already," the minister, who is also working president of TRS said. "We are proud of what she has achieved till now and she definitely deserves all the credit for the hard work she has put in," he said.

He asked for suggestions from Malika on what kind of policies can be bought in to support disabled sports persons from Telangana. He asked the officials to study the best policy frameworks which can be adopted to benefit such sports persons in Telangana state.

Minister KTR also appealed to Union minister for youth affairs and sports Anurag Thakur to help Malika get a Union government job. With the help of an interpreter Malika interacted with Minister KTR and said that Chess is not being seen as a mainstream sport by the Centre yet.

"I am overwhelmed with the warm welcome and support received from the Telangana government. My heartfelt thanks to KTR for recognising me and supporting me," said Malika.