Bhubaneswar, Dec. 3: The chess queen from the state, Padmini Rout, who has brought laurels for both her state as well as the country, is now finding it challenging to find sponsors and financial support for her upcoming international championships.

Among her many firsts, Padmini became the first Odia to win the National Women's Premier Chess Championship for the second time in a row by winning the title again last week.

For Padmini, defeating former national champion Tania Sachdev at the recent event was an easier task than finding financial support for training and travel for her upcoming tournaments.

"There is no such precedence where Odia sportspersons have been sponsored or supported financially for events by the state. In other sporting disciplines, they either join a central government public sector undertaking (PSU) after which they represent that organisation and not the state, or they can afford it themselves. But it's high time I find a solution to my problem because it's not affordable anymore," she said.

The 21-year-old picked up the game at the tender age of nine from her father Ashok Rout, who had quit his job as a teacher for a year to groom his daughter. Padmini's outstanding achievements include winning various Asian and world titles in U-12, U-14 and U-16 categories. Her recent feats include achieving the woman grandmaster title in May 2010 and becoming the first Odia to win the National Women Premier Chess Championship held at Sangli in 2014, which qualified her for the Women's World Cup in 2016.

She is also the first Indian to win an individual gold medal in the Women's Olympiad held in Norway in 2014 where she was part of the Indian team. This year she won the gold medal in the women's category of the Commonwealth Chess championship and even claimed the International Master (IM) title that is also the first norm for the Grandmaster title of which one needs three to become one. She claimed these two feats at the Gibraltar Chess Festival in January-February this year.

Now, she will be travelling to Qatar for an open championship from December 18, after which the Gibraltar festival begins on January 23.

"After my graduation this year, I'm taking a break from studies to focus on my game as I have to practise on my own. Moreover, I cannot afford to go outside the state or abroad to take training from Grandmasters," said Padmini.

In the coming two months, Padmini will need about Rs 20 lakh to cover travel and training expenses for the major championships. "The state government offers cash awards and medals, but has no scheme wherein a player gets support to attend events abroad," said the young chess champion, who is mulling tojoin some PSU to get the right support if nothing else works out.