SPORTS REPORTER

While FIDE Master Tahsin Tajwar Zia will be grief-stricken for not being able to have his father, GM Ziaur Rahman, with him like the last edition but it will be a joyous occasion for two sisters – WFM Wadifa Ahmed and WCM Walijah Ahmed -- to represent Bangladesh in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.

Tahsin will represent Bangladesh in open section along with GM Niaz Murshed, GM Enamul Hossain Razib, IM Fahad Rahman and FM Manon Reza Neer while Wadifa and Walijah are set to play in women’s section along with WIM Rani Hamid, WFM Noshin Anjum and CM Nushrat Jahan Alo.

Both teams will leave for Hungary today, with the competition set to get underway on Wednesday.

Elder sister Wadifa had got two opportunities to participate in Chess Olympiad but could not do so due to the coronavious outbreak in 2020 and due to her exams in 2022.

“There was uncertainty this time too due to the recent situation in the country but finally I am leaving with my younger sister to play the Chess Olympiad which is a matter of joy for us,” Wadifa told reporters after the official briefing at Bangladesh Chess Federation hall room yesterday.

Tahsin, meanwhile, is feeling the absence of his father. “I still can’t believe that my father is no more. My father wanted me to qualify for the national team this time too, so that I can play the Chess Olympiad and I am going to play but my father is absent,” Tahsin said at the very hall where his father breathed his last on a chess board on July 5.