Sports
The Maldives women's chess team has achieved a historic victory by winning the gold medal in Category 'E' at the 46th Chess Olympiad held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. To decentralize sports facilities, the government has announced a project to develop 27 indoor sports complexes across various parts of the Maldives, including the Male' area. Additionally, practical work to completely remove the damaged synthetic track in Hulhumale' Phase 1 and replace it with a World Athletics-certified PU track is scheduled to begin on 1 October 2026 and conclude by January 2027.
The Maldives national women's chess team has won a gold medal at the international Chess Olympiad, achieving a major historic success for the Maldives. Securing this gold medal by clinching first place in their competing category through the team's outstanding and skillful performance stands as a proud, notable milestone in Maldivian sports history. Following this achievement, Maldivian sports bodies and members of the public have been extending warm congratulations and praise to the women's team players and officials. This success achieved by a Maldivian chess team on an international stage has become an important boost to further developing the sport in the Maldives in the future.
To provide a solution to the 30-year-old difficulties and hardships faced by indoor sports in the Maldives, the Minister of Sports, Fitness and Recreation, Abdulla Rafiu, has announced that the government will proceed with a decision to build 27 indoor complexes across different parts of the country. With plans to establish these facilities in various regions, including the Greater Malé area and the atolls, this is an important step toward promoting diverse sports and creating favorable opportunities for athletes. It is expected that the indoor complexes constructed under this project will broaden opportunities for athletes to train with complete facilities and take sports infrastructure development across the Maldives to a new level.
The government announced on 28 September 2026 that work to convert the Hulhumale' synthetic track into a PU (polyurethane) track in accordance with the standards of the world athletics governing body will begin on 1 October. Speaking at the Ministers' "Ahaa" forum, Minister of Sports, Fitness and Recreation Abdulla Rafiu stated that the current track in Hulhumale' was not built to international standards, which hinders the international recognition of records set by Maldivian athletes. The Minister noted that with this change and its development into a full PU track, the quality of the track will be elevated to a standard where results and records achieved by Maldivian athletes are officially recognized by World Athletics.