India's D Gukesh has won the World Chess Championship held in Singapore. Gukesh created history by defeating Din Liren of China. Gukesh scored the required 7.5 points in this match of 14 games and became the second world champion after Vishwanathan Anand. After becoming the world champion, Gukesh said that he was dreaming of this victory for the last 10 years and finally he got it. This is the reason why after this victory, Gukesh had tears in his eyes and started crying. Let us now tell you about the person who played an important role in making Gukesh a chess world champion. This is the same person who had fulfilled Sachin's dream of becoming world champion. Here we are talking about Paddy Upton who is a mental and conditioning coach.

Who is Paddy Upton?

Paddy Upton is a resident of South Africa who is known for mental conditioning of players apart from cricket coaching. Paddy Upton makes the players mentally strong so that they can face the upcoming challenges. Paddy Upton teaches players how to bounce back in stressful moments. When Team India won the World Cup in 2011, Paddy Upton was their mental conditioning coach. After the World Cup victory, all the players of the team made Paddy Upton's role important.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gukesh (@gukesh.official)

How Paddy Upton helped Gukesh

Paddy Upton had joined Gukesh during the Chess Olympiad in October this year. Gukesh told that Paddy Upton made him mentally and physically very strong. He got a lot of benefit from his words. It was because of Paddy Upton's influence that India also won the Chess Olympiad. Paddy Upton himself told in an interview that Gukesh knows a lot about his game and he is a very promising player.

“What kind of training did you get from your mental coach Paddy Upton and how has it helped you so far?”

You ask, and we deliver! That was a question from @sage_of_kalinga on X

“Gukesh would be without a doubt, the smartest, most intellectual, self-aware athlete.” – said pic.twitter.com/QrRmWSm7nR

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 2, 2024

Hockey team also won bronze

Paddy Upton is not limited to just cricket players and chess players. He has also been the mental conditioning coach of the Indian hockey team. In the same year, the hockey team won the bronze medal in the Olympics held in Paris. This was the hockey team's second consecutive Olympic bronze medal.