Team India were declared joint champions of the Online Chess Olympiad 2020 along with Russia after a dramatic finish in August earlier this year. However, with the Indian chess team deemed as the joint recipients of gold medals in the event, the winners received their laurels in the first week of December as they were stuck in customs at the airport in Bangalore. This was India's maiden gold medal at the event. India, Russia Share FIDE Chess Olympiad 2020 Winners’ Medal; Sachin Tendulkar, PM Narendra Modi Join Netizens in Congratulating the Indian Team for Historic Gold.

Indian chess player Srinath Narayanan on December 2, 2020 (Wednesday) confirmed that the team’s medals have finally arrived after a delay of around three months. The 26-year-old said that the medals were stuck in customs in Bangalore and that he had to pay the customs duty charge, which will be reimbursed later by the FIDE.

‘The medals are here! Thank you @FIDE_chess. On the way to dispatch them to the rest of the team now. It wasn't easy getting it! It reached from Russia to India in three days, but took more than a week to reach from Bangalore to India, and had to pay customs duty!’ Srinath Narayanan wrote on his official Twitter account.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, FIDE had announced the Olympiad in an online format for the first time. Team India advanced to the maiden finals in the competition and looked to be crowned as the champions but for a dramatic end which saw Russia finish on level terms with them.

India were leading the tie but three of their games were affected by server problems which saw Russia come back into the game. The Indian team was represented by Captain Vidit Gujrathi, former world champion Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, young prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 02, 2020 07:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).