Able Administrator

But chess was not the only sport he handled, he was in table tennis, football and cricket too and he held some big events in the city in his last 30 years in sports administration. That is not enough, he has also managed the Indian volleyball and basketball teams in the past in international meets in the past.

What makes Sundar unique is the way he enforced discipline in all the teams that he managed. Basically, the Indian Bank teams started winning titles in different games during his time as the sports officer in the 1980s. The teams included volleyball, basketball, table tennis, chess., cricket and hockey. 

His leadership abilities came to the before much before that when he was in college. “I was a natural leader willing to shoulder responsibilities right from my college days. As a student of DG Vaishnav College, I was instrumental in forming various sports teams and took them for competitions outside Chennai. However, my major assignment as a sports promoter was at Indian Bank,” says Sundar. His range of sports is wide, mostly as an official but when he was at the helm in Indian Bank, their teams were on top. “People used to call me jack (of all trades). I was good at all games and my interest lay in cricket and hockey,” recalls Sundar. 

Even in the formation of the bank teams, Sundar played a prominent role. “Indian Bank did not have any presence in the sports folio though there was a cricket team and the players used to play In TNCA league under Globe CC. My advent as sports secretary changed all that as I made it a point to get into to TNCA league under Indian Bank. Indian Bank Chairman, at that time, Subba Rao and later Gopalakrishnan helped me in my pursuit to form various teams in basketball, volleyball, football, chess, table tennis, athletics, tennis apart from cricket and hockey. By the time I left the bank In Jan 2007, I was instrumental in recruiting more than 200 players under sports quota,” says Sundar. 

However, the game that gave Sundar the most prestigious position was chess. He was secretary of All India Chess Federation before he became the vice-president of the world body. 

“I got into chess because of my friend Manuel Aaron, India’s first International Master and nine-time natoinal champion, who happened to be my senior at Indian Bank. I helped him conduct the Indian Bank International rating tournament in 1978, which was held for another 28 years. Incidentally, Anand won his first title in a rating tournament in 1983 as a 13-year-old in the Indian Bank open,” said Sundar proudly. 

Sundar picks the Candidates match between Alexie Dreev and Anand  in 1990 and the 2013 World championship match between Anand and Carlsen, both in Chennai as the highlights of his organisational skills.