Bhakti starts as Eighth Seed

Commonwealth Girls Under 18 Gold Medallist Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112)
started off as the eighth seed in the National Under 19
(Juniors) Girls Championship which got underway today at
Nagpur. Nandini Saripalli is the other Goan in the tough field
which will determine the top 6 to make it to the Indian Junior
team to represent the country in many international tournaments
next year.

The top seed is WIM Mary Ann Gomes (ELO 2274) of West Bengal who has previously
won the Asian Junior Girls Championship in New Delhi and the Bronze medal in
the World Under 18 Girls Championship in Batumi, Georgia.
National 'B' Womens Champion WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (ELO 2247) and
last years Asian Under 12 Girls Gold Medallist Padmini Rout (ELO 2246)
both from Orissa start as the 2nd and 3rd seeds. WIM Kruttika
Nadig (ELO 2238) and two time winner WIM Soumya Swaminathan (ELO 2178)
both from Maharashtra will give everyone a hard time in this tournament
as the 4th and 5th seeds. Two time National Subjunior Champion
WIM P. Lakshmi Sahiti (ELO 2142) from Andhra Pradesh is the 6th seed and
WFM Pon. N. Krithika (ELO 2122) from Tamil Nadu will be
rounding out this extremely competitive field.

Bhakti's coach Dronacharya Awardee Raghunandan Gokhale has expressed
confidence that she will give a good account of herself and keep the
Goan flag flying high.