Chess grandmaster Vaishali takes over PM Modi's social media on Women's Day

Leading women from different sectors will assume Prime Minister Narendra Modi's social media properties on International Women's Day.

As soon as the Prime Minister made this announcement after wishing everyone a happy Women's Day, the first one to assume his properties was chess grandmaster Vaishali, the sister of another chess grandmaster and Arjuna awardee Praggnanandha.

She began her message with "Vanakkam," a greeting in Tamil Nadu, and said she was thrilled to be taking over the Prime Minister's social media properties on Women's Day.

“As many of you would know, I play chess and I feel very proud to be representing our beloved country in many tournaments. I was born on 21st June, which coincidentally is now popular as International Yoga Day. I’ve been playing chess since the age of 6! Playing chess has been a learning, thrilling, and rewarding journey for me, reflected in many of my tournament and Olympiad successes. But there is more… I want to give a message to all the women out there, especially the young girls: follow your dreams, no matter the hurdles. Your passion will power your success. I want to encourage women to follow their dreams and break barriers in any field they choose because I know they can,” she said. Vaishali added that she wanted to further improve her FIDE ranking and make her country prouder.

“Chess has given me so much and I look forward to contributing more to the sport I love. In the same spirit, I want to tell young girls to pursue any sport they feel like. Sports is among the best teacher.

I’ve also got a message for parents and siblings- SUPPORT GIRLS. Trust their abilities and they’ll do wonders. In my life, I have been blessed with supportive parents, Thiru Rameshbabu and Thirumathi Nagalakshmi. My brother, @rpraggnachess and I also share a close bond. I have also been fortunate to have excellent coaches, teammates and of course I am very inspired by @vishy64theking Sir.,” she said.

Vaishali added that today’s India provides a lot of support to women athletes, which is very encouraging. From inspiring women to pursue sports to training to giving them adequate sporting exposure, the progress India is making is exceptional.