Indian chess player Srinath Narayanan asked to pay custom duty on gold medal; Kiren Rijiju says 'issue has been resolved'

Taking up the issue of Indian chess player Srinath Narayanan, who was asked to pay a custom duty on a gold medal he had won in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on 5 December said that the issue has been resolved and the athlete will be given a refund of the amount.

“I'm very upset with this news. My office has already reached out to the athlete. It was a case of misunderstanding between Customs and Courier company. The issue has been resolved. The company has acknowledged the slip up & will return the money to the athlete Srinath Narayanan,” tweeted Rijiju.

On 2 December, Narayan made a shocking revelation, saying that he was asked to pay custom duty on a medal that he had won in August this year.

The medals are here! Thank you @FIDE_chess. On the way to dispatch them to the rest of the team now.

It wasn't easy getting it! It reached from Russia to India in three days, but took more than a week to reach from Bangalore to India, and had to pay customs duty! pic.twitter.com/vVGAbFQ8N5

— Srinath Narayanan (@nsrinath69) December 2, 2020

Narayan, in a conversation with Mint, said that he had paid Rs. 6,300 to the courier service DHL Express India Pvt Ltd. “I was so tired of all this, I just paid it,” he said. “They (customs officials) had opened up the package and asked me what was inside, and what it was made of. I had to give them an official document on the chemical composition.”

The Indian chess team achieved a remarkable feat earlier this year, bagging their first-ever gold medal (joint, alongside Russia) in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Online Chess Olympiad.

After bagging the gold, the Indian team was congratulated by many, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congratulations to our chess players for winning the FIDE Online #ChessOlympiad. Their hard work and dedication are admirable. Their success will surely motivate other chess players. I would like to congratulate the Russian team as well.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 30, 2020