Vishy Anand hails Ivana's feat!

(Photo - Ivana receiving the Gold Medal from FIDE General
Secretary Ignatius Leong)

World Champion Viswanathan Anand congratulated
Ivana Furtado on her unique accomplishment of
winning two consecutive World Under 8 Girls
Championships in 2006 (Batumi, Georgia) and
2007 (Antalya, Turkey).

Ivana and Anand first met at the AICF felicitation function
of Vishy in Chennai. Ivana invited Aruna and Vishy to Goa
and the World Champion would have made it had it not
been for a bout of viral fever last minute. Thereafter, Ivana
called Anand to wish him for Diwali and Vishy inturn wished
her all the success for her upcoming tournament in Turkey.

Motivated by the kind words and gestures of this
great champion, Ivana who is a student of Our Lady of
Rosary, Dona Paula went on to be the only Gold medallist
in the large Indian contingent sent to Antalya. Her next goal
is to become the World Women's Champion one day, she states!