Benazir elected SACC president

Bangladesh Chess Federation president and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) director general Benazir Ahmed was elected as president of the newly formed eight-member South Asian Chess Council (SACC) at a city hotel yesterday.

The council also approved their constitution at its congress in the presence of FIDE vice president GM Nigel Short, FIDE president’s advisor Berik Balgabaev, FIDE Zone-3.2 president, BCF general secretary Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim and others.

Indian international arbiter Dharmendra Kumar and the vice president of the Nepal Chess Association, Ram Thapa, were elected as deputy presidents while the Sri Lanka Chess Federation’s delegate G. Luxman Wijesuria was elected as general secretary and the Bhutan Chess Federation president Lekey Dorji was elected as treasurer.

Three elected executive committee members are: Senator Kalsoom Parveen of Pakistan, Hussain Shiyan of Maldives and Ghulam Ali Malak Zad of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Arun Muthusamy of England was appointed as chief executive director, said a press release yesterday.