Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao extended his support to Malika Handa, a deaf and dumb International Chess Champion. International Chess Player Malika Handa (from Punjab) met Minister KTR in Hyderabad today. Minister earlier responded to a video of Malika on Twitter and offered to extend support. Malika Handa flew down from Jalandhar to Hyderabad at the invitation of Minister KTR.

As promised, the Minister extended financial support of Rs. 15 Lakh and handed over a cheque for the same today.

KTR stated that he called Malika in his personal capacity after hearing about her plight and the unfair treatment she was receiving from the Punjab state government. He handed over a cheque of Rs 15 lakh to Malika and also a laptop that would help her participate in online chess championships.

During the meeting, he stated that Malika has brought laurels to the country. "Many congratulations. You have won the world already," said Minister KTR while talking to Malika. “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.

Minister asked for inputs from Malika on what kind of policies can be bought in to support disabled sportspersons from Telangana. He asked the officials to study the best policy frameworks that can be adopted to benefit such sportspersons in Telangana state.

KTR also appealed to Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur to help Malika get a Union Govt Job.

With the help of an interpreter Malika interacted with KTR and said that Chess is not being seen as a mainstream sport by the Govt of India yet.

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

Who is Malika Handa?

Malika Handa, age 26, is an Indian professional chess player who is deaf and dumb. Malika finished her Bachelors in Arts. She is the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the International Deaf Chess Championship in 2016, which took place in Armenia.

Malika was born in Jalandhar, Punjab. She was not born deaf but lost her hearing and speech when she was one year old. Now, she lives with a 90 percent hearing disability.

She began to play chess at the age of 15 and has won the national deaf chess championship six times until now.

She is the only woman from Punjab to have represented the state nine times in national championships. She has won one gold and two silvers in the world deaf chess championship and as well as in the Asian deaf chess championship.

Malika is now preparing for the World Championship which is scheduled to take place in September 2022 in Poland.