Sri Lankan chess queen Suneetha Wijesuriya the Women’s Fide Master and Fide Instructor (WFM/FI) was honoured during the recently concluded 44th Chess Olympiad championship held in Chennai, India.
Suneetha became the only Sri Lankan from 48 Asian countries to be felicitated at the awards ceremony.
Unfortunately she was not present to receive the coveted award in Chennai but it was presented to her in Colombo by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.
Suneetha is the only chess Olympiad gold medalist in Sri Lanka having won the medal at the 30th Chess Olympiad in Manila in 1992 and considered the best chess promoter in the country as head of her own Anatoly Karpov Chess Club especially among school children.
The CEO of the Russian Centre Buddhappriya Ramanayake gives his fullest support to the Anatoly Karpov Chess Club while Suneetha is a ten- time National champion and the recipient of several other awards for her promotional work island-wide.
Sunetra’s sister Vineetha was also a chess champion while her brother Lakshman Wijesuriya, a former Asian champion, is the current president of the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka and the vice president of the Asian Chess Federation and secretary of the Commonwealth Chess Federation.