Indian men, women win maiden gold medals

Men's team defeat Slovenia, women counterparts crush Azerbaijan

India on Sunday scripted history in the Chess Olympiad as its men's and women's teams clinched their maiden titles in a rare clean sweep of gold medals after beating their respective opponents in the final round here.

The Indian men's team defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 while their women counterparts also crushed Azerbaijan with an identical margin in the 11th and final round in the 45th edition of the Chess Olympiad that concluded here.

Only China and erstwhile Soviet Union had won both men's and women's gold medals in the same edition of the Chess Olympiad.

Indian men had earlier won two bronze medals -- in 2014 and 2022 -- in the tournament, while the women had bagged a bronze in the 2022 edition held in Chennai.