I didn't pull out: Humpy

A day after the All Indian Chess Federation (AICF) announced that world champion Anand Viswanathan and Koneru Humpy have pulled out of the Asian Games, the winner of two gold medals of 2006 Doha Asian Games, Humpy minced no words in saying that given a chance she would have loved to represent India.

“I did not pull out of Asian Games. I was denied an entry. I wish the federation could have shown some respect to international players and their prior engagements,” an upset Humpy said.

“Playing for India is always the top most priority and I would have loved to play for country and win a gold medal.“The Indian Chess Federation wanted me to attend a training camp before the Asian Games but they should have looked at my international commitments and taken my performance into account before rejecting my case,” the world number two added.

Humpy, the highest ranked Indian in the world, has an international rating of 2593 points and is behind Judith Polgar of Hungary.

“All my appeals to the federation have fallen flat and that left me really disappointed. What can I do if the parent chess body is not willing to give a chance to the defending champion?

“I have also written to India’s Sports Minister MS Gill but I am yet to get a reply,” Humpy told espnstar.com.

Meanwhile, the AICF secretary general, V Sunder denied the allegation, saying, “We had written a letter to Koneru on May 31, 2010, asking her to attend the training camp for the Asian Games but we did not get any reply.

“In case she had any problems with the date, Humpy could have informed us but instead she chose to skip the Chess Olympiad and also abstained herself from the Asian Team Championships,” Sunder added.

The teams: Men: K Sasikiran, P Hari Krishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, GN Gopal, B Adhiban. Women: D Harika, Tania Sachdev, Eesha Karavade, S Meenakshi, Nisha Mohota. Coaches: Lev Psakhis, Oleg Romanishin. Manager: Bharat Singh Chauhan.