Turkmen chess players won gold, silver and bronze medals at the recently concluded Western Asian Junior Championship under 20 years old, held in Colombo (Sri Lanka). The tournament gathered 110 athletes from 9 countries, competing in three types of chess — classical, rapid, and blitz, The Turkmenistan: Golden age electronic newspaper reports.

The highest honor in the Turkmenistan team was awarded to Leyla Shohradova (WCM TKM, rating 1960), a graduate of Secondary School No. 31 in Danev district of Lebap region. She achieved this success in the rapid tournament. After 7 rounds, Leyla scored 6.5 points, surpassing Shree Reddy Keerti, India, who took second place by half a point, and K M Dahamdi Sanudula, Sri Lanka, who completed the podium with one point less.

Leyla’s elder sister, Lala Shohradova, a student at the International Oil and Gas University, won the silver medal in the classical control category, reflecting her high level of chess mastery. In nine games, she scored 7 points, earning her first point towards the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title. First place with 8.5 points was taken by Galina Mikheeva, competing under the FIDE flag from Russia, while third place went to Devi Narahari Saranya from India with 6.5 points.

Amanmuhammet Hommadov, a first-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, won the bronze medal with a score of 7 out of 9 points in the classical tournament among juniors. He fulfilled the FIDE Master norm and added one point towards the requirements for the International Master (IM) title. Gold in this category was won by Russian Konstantin Popov with 7.5 points. Silver went to Asman Bayantas, Kazakhstan, who also scored 7 points but edged out Hommadov on tiebreaks.

The Turkmenistan team took second place in the unofficial team standings. First place went to the Russian team competing under the FIDE flag. Representatives of India took the third place on the podium.