Kiren Rijiju steps in after chess player asked to pay customs on gold medal

Kiren Rijiju is the Sports Minister of India. (File)

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said that Indian chess player Srinath Narayanan will get a refund after he was asked to pay custom duty on the gold medal that he had won in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad.

According to reports, Narayanan had to pay customs duty of Rs 6,300 to get the gold medal which he won in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad in August this year.

Rijiju on Saturday said his office has contacted the player and the issue has been resolved.

“I’m very upset with this news. My office has already reached out to the athlete,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

“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.”

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. https://t.co/wL4XmDFvQs

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 5, 2020

On Wednesday, Narayanan took to social media to inform that he has received the medal but after paying custom duty for it.

“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!” Narayanan had tweeted.

The Indian chess team had claimed its first-ever gold medal after being adjudged joint winners alongside Russia in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad.

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