Sachin motivate Indian players participate in Chess Olympiad

The one hour that Sachin Tendulkar spent with the Indian team that will take part in the 14th Chess Olympiad for the Blind and Visually Impaired provided the players with a big motivational boost on Thursday.

Charudatta Jadhav, general secretary of All India Chess Federation for the Blind and his colleagues couldn't hide their joy at meeting the cricket legend.
"It's a great day for all of us. Sachin has been a great source of inspiration and spending an hour with him ahead of a world meet makes us all the more proud. If seeing is believing, we shall show the world what India is capable of both as a host and in competition," said Jadhav.
This is the first time that India will host the Olympiad (in Chennai from Aug 9-19) for the visually impaired since it was launched in 1961. Since then, India has created the world's only software that has audio with navigator that helps players round the globe.
On his part, Tendulkar said he himself was a keen chess enthusiast, though not a very successful one. "One of my uncle was involved in chess as an official and he also wrote a book on chess.
"Recently, my son (Arjun) took a liking to chess and soon became serious at it. So much so that we even had to enroll him for chess classes. But then, like most kids, he moved to football and now cricket," said Tendulkar.
Talking about the Olympiad, he wished the Indian team and stressed that good wishes from chess legend Viswanathan Anand should act as a boost to their hopes. "I feel proud and confident that these players will bring India greater results," said Tendulkar.
The Olympiad will feature 25 international masters, 5 international women masters and 120 world chess federation rated players from across 30 nations.