President Higgins First To Pay Tribute To Ireland’s Newest World Champion

Ireland’s newest world champion is none other than 16-year-old Diana Mirza after she came out on top of the Worlds Schools Under-17 Chess Championship this weekend in Romania. 

President Higgins was one of the first to congratulate our newest champion as he tweeted the following tribute:

“My heartfelt congratulations to Diana Mirza from Limerick on winning the World Schools Chess U17 Girls Championship.”

— President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) May 1, 2017

This was no easy feat as Diana had to go through nine games, some of which lasted as long as seven hours but she is no stranger to strenuous playing, after playing a part in the women’s Chess Championship Olympiad team in Baku last year. 

Afterward her victory at the weekend, Diana mentioned the need for the country to get behind the sport by saying:

“An unfortunate thing is that chess lacks funding in Ireland and that is a very big problem because it comes down to parents or whoever else may be able to support the players. 

“Hopefully there will be improvements in the future here, but of course it’s incredibly hard because chess isn’t recognised as a sport in Ireland.”

The Irish Chess Union rounded off the congratulations by saying:

“The ICU are delighted for Diana on her groundbreaking success. It is a testimony to her talent, hard work and commitment over the years and to the support of her family and friends in chess”. 

Congrats, Diana, we’re already looking forward to your next win!

H/T: Independent.ie

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