· More than 16 Chess Grand Masters and an International Bridge Player participated in the tournament, hosted by Bharat Petroleum
· Total 132 players participated in the tournament including 74 in Bridge and 58 in Chess
Mumbai, Mar 15, 2022: The oil public sector undertakings (PSUs) put up a grand show at 31st Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) Inter Unit Chess and 41st Inter Unit Bridge Tournament held in Mumbai from Mar 7 to 11. The Event, hosted by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), saw participation from 132 players with 74 players participating in Bridge and 58 players participating in Chess tournament. The tournament had participation from 16 Grand Chess Masters and an International Bridge Player.
Shri Manoj Heda, Executive Director (Corporate Finance, BPCL) and Shri Syed Abbas Akhtar, Chief General Manager (Brand & PR), BPCL along with Shri Lalit Watts, Advisor, PSPB were the chief guests at the inauguration ceremony; while Shri Biju Gopinath, Head-New Businesses, BPCL and Mr. Gautam Vadhera, Joint Secretary, PSPB gave away the awards at the end of the event. BPCL, HPCL, Assam Oil Division (IOCL), Engineers India Ltd., GAIL, OIL, ONGC and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) were oil organisations that participated in the tournament.
Under the ‘Individual’ category, Grand Master (GM) Abhijeet Gupta, BPCL was adjudged the winner; while Team ONGC which consisted of GM Sasikaran Krishnan, GM Koneru Humpy, GM Deep Sengputa, GM Sethuraman SP and GM Neelopal Dass Kongevel were declared as winner under ‘Team’ category. GM Koneru Humpy from ONGC was declared Player of the Chess Tournament.
The objective of PSPB is to encourage, develop, control, supervise, regulate, co-ordinate and organize various sports and games and to do all other acts, deeds, matters and things necessary for or incidental to or in the attainment of the objective of PSPB.
Oil PSUs, including BPCL, have a rich history of supporting budding sports talents in their journey marked by high ambition and the determination required to achieve it. BPCL have inducted about 250 sportspersons in various sporting disciplines in the last several decades, supporting and encouraging them, while acting as a springboard for their aspirations. Out of 64 sportspersons who are still active in their sports discipline, 7 represented India in Tokyo Olympics. Indian Bronze winning Hockey winning team had 5 players from BPCL and total 11 from the Oil PSUs.
