India made history on Sunday, winning an unprecedented double gold at the 45th Chess Olympiad. Both the men's and women's team conquered the Olympiad, delivering India's maiden gold medals in both categories. After the victory, the Indian contingent took to the dance floor to celebrate in style. In what seemed to be a planned celebration, members of the team, led by the likes of D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, danced to the song 'Tunuk Tunuk' with the trophy in hand.
Renowned Indian businessman Anand Mahindra responded humorously, stating that victory is always best celebrated in Punjabi.
"Victory is always communicated well in Punjabi," posted Mahindra on social media platform 'X'.
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 23, 2024
In an interaction with NDTV, Vantika Agrawal, one of the stars of the victorious India team, revealed that their celebrations had been planned in prior.
"We had planned this. We planned that when we win the medal, we will do this dance, this celebration, we will make some reels and go for dinner. Before the tournament, we were the first seeds and it was kind of expected that we would win a medal," revealed Vantika.
This has not been the only unique celebration that the team has done. The team's different celebrations have gone viral across social media, with the standout being D Gukesh and Tania Sachdev replicating Rohit Sharma's iconic trophy walk from the 2024 T20 World Cup. The Instagram post of the celebration has received over 30 million views and 2.6 million likes in less than a day of being posted.
India had claimed the bronze medal - behind Ukraine and Georgia - in the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022.
India's victorious women's team consisted of Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev. On the other hand, the victorious men's team consisted of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna.