Sasith Nipun Piyamantha, a student of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda, won Sri Lanka her first ever Asian age-group gold medal in chess scoring 6.5 out of 9 at the Asian Youth Chess Championship concluded in Thailand recently.
Nipun, one of the most promising young chess players in the island, surprised a strong field of 34 contenders, 8 of whom were ranked higher than him when the tournament began.
He defeated Altansukh Ganbold (Mongolia), fellow Sri Lankan Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage, Subrota Biswas (Bangladesh) and Vatsal Singhania (India). He drew with Hsu Hsuan-Ming (Taipei), Sankalp Gupta and V.S. Raahul (India), Abdisalimov Abdimalik (Uzbekistan) and Hakemi Arman (Iran).
Although Singhania, Gupta and Sasith Nipun finished on 6.5 points, the Sri Lankan pipped the other two on the tie-break, giving Sri Lanka her proudest moment in this prestigious chess event in the Asian region.
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