(All Carrom Federations and friends are requested to send their reports for this page. We are waiting,)

India - Pakistan - Poland - Sri Lanka - Bangladesh - Malaysia - Qatar - France - Czech Republic

(For details see below)

Indian Carrom Team received by President of India

Report by Mr. SK Sharma, Gen. Secretary AICF

Dear friends,

I am delighted to inform you that Her Excellency, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India felicitated triumphant Indian carrom team in a special function organised at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi in February 2008. In fact, Her Excellency bestowed her blessings on the Indian Carrom Team which won 15 Medals in the 5^th World Carrom Championship held at Cannes, France from 13^th to 17^th February 2008. Few photographs are attached.

Those were blissful and proud moments for the whole carrom fraternity. In the first ever meeting of the Indian contingent with Her Excellency, the President of India, all the carrom players felt elated and encouraged. The said meeting motivated Indian players for improved performance.

Earlier, the World Champions were also felicitated in Parliament House, New Delhi by Shri Jai Parkash Agarwal, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), President, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and Chairman, AICF immediately on their return from Cannes, in a special function followed by sumptuous lunch. Shri Agarwal interacted with players and assured them that he would do his best to uplift this game to a desired level in the country. Mr. Agarwal is now the new President of the AICF.

Every member of the Indian contingent was thrilled and was over the moon on being able to enter and see the President House and the Parliament House. It was a dream come true for them.

Women World Champion, I. Ilavazhaki was presented a cheque of Rupees one million by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu while Men World Champion, Yogesh Pardeshi was presented a cheque of Rupees half a million by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and both of them were felicitated by their State Governments.

With best wishes

sk sharma

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Indian - Sri Lanka Test Series 2008

By SK Sharma

I am pleased to inform that Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka, as part of its Golden Jubilee Celebrations organised Indo-Sri Lanka Test Series from 20th to 26th June 2008 in Sri Lanka. The Series had three Test Matches both for men and women players. The 1st Test Match was played at Ratnapura (a well known place for Gems) on 21st June 2008, the 2nd Test at Open University of Nawala on 23rd June 08 and the 3rd Test Match at Fingara Town and Country Club, Rattanapitiya on 25th June 08. India won the Test Series by 3-0 both in men and women categories. Details results are given below.

The Test Series is conducted between the two countries every two years alternatively in each country. The last Test Series was organised by the All India Carrom Federation in India on the day year long Golden Jubilee Celebrations were launched at Delhi i.e. 4th March 2006 by conducted the Test Matches at Delhi, Chandigarh and Dehradun.

1^st Test Match – Ratnapura, Sri Lanka – 21^st June 2008
	MEN TEAM		WOMEN TEAM
S.No	Players	Score	Players	Score
1.	M. Nataraj (India) beat Chamil Cooray (Sri Lanka)	25-19, 25-23	Rashmi Kumari (India) beat Nayana Wickremasinghe (SL)	25-01, 25-00
2.	Yogesh Pardeshi (India) beat Germain Goonawardane (SL)	25-01, 25-05	I.Ilavazhaki (India) beat Yashika Rahubadde (SL)	25-07, 25-14
3.	Parkash Gaikwad (India) beat D. N. Fernando (SL)	18-25, 25-18, 25-07	G. Revathy (India) beat Leela D’Silva (SL)	25-04, 25-09
Indian wins 3-0			Indian wins 3-0
2^nd Test Match – Open University of Nawala, Colombo, Sri Lanka – 23^rd June 2008
	MEN TEAM		WOMEN TEAM
1.	M. Nataraj (India) beat Ajith Chandrasoma (SL)	25-00, 25-00	Rashmi Kumari (India) beat Nayana Wickremasinghe (SL)	25-00, 25-05
2.	Chamil Cooray (SL) beat Yogesh Pardeshi (India)	25-24, 00-25, 25-09	I.Ilavazhaki (India) beat Amitha Wickremasinghe (SL)	25-00, 25-01
3.	Parkash Gaikwad (India) beat D. N. Fernando (SL)	23-25, 25-01, 25-13	D.Swarnalatha (India) beat Yashika Rahubadde (SL)	25-00, 25-08
Indian wins 2-1			Indian wins 3-0
3^rd Test Match – Fingara Town and Country Club, Rattanapitiya,Sri Lanka – 25^th June 2008
	MEN TEAM		WOMEN TEAM
1.	M. Nataraj (India) beat Germain Goonawardane (SL)	25-18, 25-04	Rashmi Kumari (India) beat Yashika Rahubadde (SL)	25-14, 25-11
2.	Yogesh Pardeshi (India) beat D. N. Fernando (SL)	25-10, 25-00	I.Ilavazhaki (India) beat Leela D’Silva (SL)	25-00, 25-00
3.	Chamil Cooray (SL) beat K. Ramesh Babu (India)	25-20, 25-14	D.Swarnalatha (India) beat Nayana Wickremasinghe (SL)	25-01, 25-04
Indian wins 2-1			Indian wins 3-0

One Black Slam was scored by Yogesh Pardeshi in the 1st Test Match.

The Series was organised by CFSL in a very good manner and was a successful event.

MURTAZA KHAN ZULFEE WIN MEN SINGLE TITLE IN PAKISTAN

Ramzan Ali & Shabbir Ahmed Beat Murtaza Khan Zulfee & Iftakhaar Uddin in the Men Double Event's Final
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The 2nd National Carrom Championship (ICF) 2008 played under the supervision of Pakistan Carrom Federation at Pak Carrom International Club, Sawana City, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Blk 13d/III, Karachi.
This Championship was dedicated to ICF which is celebrating his 20th anniversary.
In the 2nd National Carrom Championship more than 100 men player participated and at the qualifying round and league matches Murtaza Khan Zulfee, Iftikhaaruddin, Shabbir Ahmed and Nadir Hussain Reach the men single event's semifinals. In the first semifinal, Iftakhaaruddin beat Shabbir Ahmed by 2-0 game and in the 2nd semi final Nadir Hussain loss against Murtaza Khan Zulfee by 2-0 game and he also loss 3rd position match against Shabbir Ahmed while in the second semi final match of Best of three games Murtaza Khan Zulfee win first game by 25-24 but in the 2nd game Iftakhaaruddin beat Murtaza Khan Zulfee by 25-7. In the 3rd and final game Iftakhaaruddin loss the game by 25-0 and Murtaza Khan Zulfee win the men single Title.
Menâ€™s Double Event Final match was very interesting, in this match Pakistan Carrom Team player Ramzan Ali and his partner Shabbir Ahmed win first game by 25-24 but in the 2nd game Iftakhaaruddin and Murtaza Khan Zulfee beat them by 25-21 and in the 3rd and final game once again Ramzan Ali & Shabbir Ahmed played very well and win by 25-22. While 3rd position is secured by Nadir Hussain & CH.Muhammad Ali after beating Asad Ashraf & M.Bilal by 2-0 game.

Monsoon Warszawa kwiecień 2008

A small Carrom tournament in Polish Capital

(We thank for these photos to Paulina Nowakowska and Jakub Nowakowski of Poland)

All India Carrom Federation

JP Agarwal M.P. elected as President, Ramesh Suri Executive President and SK Sharma General Secretary

By M. Saran

New Delhi- April 24, 2008 : The Working Committee and Annual General Council of the All India Carrom Federation held at Hotel Landmark, Guwahati (Assam). Besides the general business the General Council elected Office Bearer and Members, Working Committee for the next term of 4 years. Shri Jai Prakash Agarwal, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and President, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee elected as President and noted businessman of Delhi Shri Ramesh Suri, elected as Executive President of the All India Carrom Federation. Both the eminent personalities of the Capital City are staunch admirers of the game of Carrom, they had all along associated with the activities and has been extending all possible help and support since more than two decades. Shri Jai Prakash Agarwal associated as an Office bearer for the first time whereas Shri Ramesh Suri was earlier associated with Carrom as Vice President, Delhi Carrom Association for the term from 1990-94.

Live wire of the Federation, Shri S. K. Sharma, General Secretary of Haryana Carrom Association was re-elected as General Secretary for the consecutive 4^th term. His devotion and sincere working for the cause of carrom was applauded by all. Shri Pradip Kumar Hazarika, General Secretary of the Assam Carrom Association and the host of the meeting was re-elected for the post of Vice President and later on designated as Sr. Vice President. Shri B.K. Haranath (Hyderabad), Shri Bharat Bhushan (Bihar), Shri Mahesh Sekhri (Chandigarh) re-elected as Vice President. Shri Prabhjeet Singh Bachher, Organizing Secretary of last SAARC Carrom Championship and General Secretary of Vidarbh elected as Vice President. Shri Khurshid Khan was re-elected as Treasurer for the 3^rd term. Shri P. Raveendran, earlier A.G.S. and General Secretary, Keral elected on a new post of Director (Technical) and Shri S. Udaya Kumar, earlier Joint Secretary (South) and General Secretary, Pondichery elected as Asstt. General Secretary. Shri Vijay Kumar, organizing Secretary of last Asian Championship and General Secretary Chhattisgarh elected as Dy. Secretary (Marketing). He is having MBA in (Marketing) and rich experience as Marketing Executive.

There were vital changes in the Joint Secretaries, out of 5 Joint Secretaries 4 are new faces. Shri Mukul Kumar Jha, General Secretary, Jharkhand re-elected as Joint Secretary whereas Shri M. Chandramauli, President, AP, Shri R. J. Mahant, General Secretary, Gujarat, Shri V.D. Narayan, General Secretary, Delhi and Shri T. Dhiren Singh, General Secy., Manipur were elected as Joint Secretary for South, West, North and North East Zone Respectively. Maharashtra, H.P., U.P., Karnataka, Rajasthan and Meghalaya were elected as Member Working Committee.

National famed Carrom Player turned as Politician Shri Rockybul Hussain, Minister of Environment, Forest, Tourism etc. of Government of Assam and President Assam Carrom Federation was nominated as Chief Adviser. At the occasion of attending the General Council, Shri Hussain announced donation of a sum of Rs. 1 lac to the Federation.

World Champions felicitated in India

Arun Deshpande informs from Mumbai, India:

Yogesh Pardesi is felicitated by Chief Minister of Maharastra and a cash prize of Rs.500000/- ( Half a million indian Rupees ) is awarded to him.

B.K. Haranath writes from Hyderabad:

You will recall that Apoorwa, Nirmala and Suvarna of A.P. were given cash awards of Rs.3, 2 and 1 lakh each for their performances in international arena. Now Ilavazhagi got Rs.10/- lakh for Tamilnadu Government, a penominal amount from any standards. For the last three years A.P. Government is sitting on cash incentives for the non olympic disciplines who won the National title for different age groups. A meeting of non olympic disciplines is convened to take place on 9th instant at Hyderabad. This being the election year, we hope, we will ultimately come out successful.

NATIONAL CARROM CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 IN PAKISTAN

(Report by PCF)

Secretary general of Pakistan Carrom Federation Murtaza Khan Zulfee said that the 2^nd National Carrom championship is going to be held from 12^th April 2008 at Pak Carrom International Club, mezzanine floor Sawana City block 13-D III Gulshane Iqbal Karachi he was addressing to the press conference yesterday here at Karachi, He further added that this time National Carrom championship being dedicated to International Carrom Federation (ICF) as ICF celebrating its 20^th anniversary he told to the press that in this championship Men’s single and double’s events will be played and the last date for the registration is 11-04-2008 those who wants to participate they can get the registration from above mentioned Club or they can send there entries at pcf_zulfee@yahoo.com

Grand welcome accorded to World Champion Team in Sri Lanka
by Rohini Mathiasz

At the airport we were welcomed by a galaxy of photographers from the press and the TV cameras - naturally it was a grean win. For the first time in our lives we were taken through the VIP lounge without any formalities (like when our famous cricketers won the World Championship) and accorded a grand welcome. All of us were non-plussed and bewildered at the reception we received. We are still walking about as if in a daze. In the rush there was a delay of half an hour since Langley's baggage could not be found (we do get obstacles like this everywhere) and had been over carried. So he had to fill in a form etc. etc. When we came out half an hour late the battery of cameras awaiting us was wonderful. We had to stop in two places because there were welcome functions on the way. There were banners put up congratulating us. Just imagine we had to go to a European country - France - to win the World title. All the 04 former championships were held in India (2) and Sri Lanka (2). Europe brought us luck too in addition to our luck. We are still basking in the glory of this event. The Ministry of Sports organised a function for us and I am sure later on all of us will be presented to the President of the country! We are hoping against hope that we will be able to get something from him too. The day we returned, at the welcome function, Nishantha's boss where he is employed gave him a promotion and also presented him with keys to a car. He was so happy. One week later Germain and Chamil too were presented with two brand new Gemini cars. In addition all three of them got promotions and also received three houses each worth Rs.50 lakhs. All three of them Chamil, Germain and Nishantha are working in firms which come under the Ceylinco Group of Companies and their Chairman is a great philanthrophist - Mr. Lalith Kotelawela. So all three of them were really lucky. Viraj and Amitha work at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority a government concern and they received only Rs. 2 lakhs and 1 1/2 laksh each. Yasika and Udeshika were welcomed by their school (they are still school-going) and a few days later at a ceremony and conducted in a motorcade from the town to the school. They too received gifts, money etc. from their school, friends, well wishers and the people in the area. Nishantha was welcomed with a reception from his school and the Mayor of the town he lives. Chamil got a shock at the airport itself when he saw a bus-load of children from his school with the present Principal himself in person although he had not seen or known Chamil earlier - that was nice of him wasn't it? A very amiable old chap. There were posters of Chamil pasted in the front of the bus we travelled, congratulating him as well as all of us. People lined up at places to welcome us. The whole country is agog and everyday in all the daily papers they carried photos of all of us with garlands etc. The news of our win had been relayed over the TV stations as 'breaking news' and the public had been informed that although Sri Lanka has lost to India in cricket (there was a cricket match on at that time) Sri Lanka was able to wrest the carrom Championship from India in Carrom. That was enough for everybody in Sri Lanka to rejoice. Even crackers were lit by a club welcoming us. To-date Sri Lanka has not stopped wishing the teams, congratulating them etc. In the newspapers even yesterday (1.4.08) there was one full page advertisement congratulating Chamil and Germain from their workplace (Seylan Bank) because in addition to all this Chamil Cooray won the Men's National Championship at the 40th Carrom Nationals concluded on the 23rd of March and Chamil/German won the Men's Doubles event too. Nishantha was the Runner up in the Men's Singles and he/Viraj Fernando were the Runners up in the Men's doubles too. TV interviews are galore and Carrom is catching on very very fast. The game needed a boost and what a boost it was! It was doubly celebrated since it was the 50th Anniversary of the CFSL. Arif, I will send you some photos too once I get them organised. As we returned we conducted the 40th Nationals too and now there is another commencing in April soon after the Sinhala New Year. So you see we are really on our toes.

FIRST OPEN WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2007, DHAKA

First Open women Championship held in Dhaka on 23rd to 25th November 2007.

Champion: Farzana Banu Shilpy

Runner-up: Shamsunnahar Maksuda

3rd. Farhana Pretty

CARROM OPEN CUP - PRAHA 2007

24. - 25.11.2007 Praha, 2.ročník mezinárodního turnaje CARROM OPEN CUP PRAHA ve výsledcích

An interesting Carrom Championship was organized on 24th & 25th November 2007 in Praha, Czech Republic. A total number of 20 players, including some from the neighbouring Germany participated in the tournament.

Result:

1. Peter Böcker

2. Andreas Kracht

3. Dirk Polchow

4. Frank Mohn

5. Ingo Frauenrath

6. Filip Smoljak

7. Aleš Formánek

8. Radek Jaroměřský

9. Zdeněk Sviták

10. Sumit Malhotra

11. Horst Šimunský

12. Milan Kvoch

13. Zdeněk Táborský

14. Ondřej Chmelař

15. Tomáš Chmelař

16.Lukáš Navrátil

17. – 20. Štěpán Král

Marek Švehla

Ritech Kumar

Romana Králová

3rd Malaysian Open International Carrom Championship

The Indian Carrom players won Men's Singles, Women Single and Teams Events for men and women both at the International Carrom Championship Malaysia Open at Kuala Lumpure, held between 15th to 17th November. A total number of 56players and large nuber of umpires and official from 12 countries (India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, USA, Jpan, France, U.K., Germany, UAE and Malaysia) took part in the tournament. The Championship was closed officially, at the prize distribution ceremony at Grand Olympic Hotel on 17th November, by the President of the International Carrom Federation Mr. Arif Naqvi, who was also Chairman of the Championship. ICF Secretary General Mr. SK Sharma as well as President of Carrom association of Malaysia Mr. Zainal Abu Zarin also addressed the colourful prize distribution function. ICF President Arif Naqvi described the Championship a great success. He praised the excellent hospitality by the Malaysian Carrom Association and the friendly and cordial atmosphere among the players as well as smooth running of the matches with very good performances and the support given by the Ministry of Yout and Sports of Malaysia. More than 24 white slams (break to finish ) and black slams were made during the championship, not only by India and Sri Lanka but also by the players from several other countries such as France and USA. The Women's singles was won by I.ILAVAZHAKI of India by defeating Rashmi Kumari (both Indians) in final. The 3rd place went to Ayesh Mohammad of India. Men's Singles Event was won by B. Radha Krishna who defeated R.M.Shankara (both Indians) in final. R.Arokia Raj came on third place by beating Chamil Cooray of Sri Lanka. In teams Events for men Indian team came on the first place, while Sri Lanka came on 2nd and Maldives on 3rd. place. The Women Teams Event was won by India. Maldives came on 2nd, Sri Lanka on 3rd and Malaysia on 4th place. During the tournament Pakistan impressed with much improved performances in comparison to past. Pakistani team included 4 players and 2 umpires. Iftikharuddin of Pakistan came on 15th place while Amir Khan on 19th place. In teams event Pakistan had beaten two teams resulting the tie for the third place. Pakistan, Maldives and France had equal points (two win each), but Maldives got some edge to reach semi final. Though Sri Lanka could not win any event, its Tasmil Cooray surprised spectators by excellent performances by beating India's Shankara in Teams Event and India's Yogesh Pardeshi in Men's Singlges. Best European player was Fabian Pereira of France with 7th position in Men's Singles. The next international matches of Carrom will be 5th World Championship at Cannes (the city of film festivals) in France,in February next year, Euro Cup near London in July, SAARC countries Championship in summer in Maldives and International Federation Cup in Sri Lanka in November 2008. AN

Results:

Women Singles

1. I.Ilavazhaki India

2. Rashmi Kumari India

3. Ayesha Mohammad India

4. Barsha Baruah

Men Singles

1. B. Radha Krishna, India

2. RM Shankara, India

3. R. Arokiaraj, India

4. Chamil Cooray, Sri Lanka

Team Championship

Women

1. India (Rashmi Kumari, Barsha Baruha, Ilavazhaki, Ayesha Mohd.)

2. Maldives (Aishath Shazna, Afeefunisha, Aishath Fainaz)

3. Sri Lanka (Udeshika Kumari, Nadishani Atapattu, Yasika Rahabaddhe, Leela D´Silva)

4. Malaysia ( Azila Abdul Samad, Sharifah Sahira, Suzan Salim, Rasmah)

Men

1. India ( R. Arokiaraj, Yogesh Pardeshi, R. Radhakrishnan, R. M. Shankara)

2. Sri Lanka ( D.N. Fernando, Chamil Cooray, Hussain Ali, G. gunawardene)

3. Maldives ( Ahmed Hameed, Hussain Neesham, Hussain Ali)

4. Bangladesh ( Mohd. Ali, Mohd. Salahuddin, Asraful Islam)

Young Carrom player of France is again European Champion
Thrilling matches in 11th Euro Cup in Dortmund, Germany
(Report by Media Commission of ICF)

21 year old Pierre Dubois of France once again established supremacy by defending successfully the Title in Siongles Events on Sunday at the 11th Euro Cup in Dortmund, Germany. While Teams Trophy was defended successfully by the UK team and Doubles Title went to Karnal Abdin and Shaheen Miah of UK.
Four Slams were scored during the matches: One white and one black slam by Nazrul Islam of UK,
one Whilte Slam by Jonathan Leau (France) and one White Slam by Karnal Abdin (UK).

The high standard of the games and excellent technical arrangements and hospitality were praised by all participants of the Euro Cup. Around one hundred players from five European countries participated in three disciplines between 13th and 15th July 2007( 85 in Singles, 64 in Doubles and four each in five teams). The matches were conducted with Swiss System with the help of computer.

In Teams Event the UK team with Nazrul Islam, Abdul Rahman Khan, Abdul Malik and Abdul Wahid dominated from the very begining getting tough fights only from France and Germany. France with Pierre Dubois, Steeve Collard, Jonathan Leau and Mouraly Venou snatched second place from Germany (Peter Boecker, Stefan Besser, Dirk Polchow and Robert Hauke) which came on third place. Italy with Francesco Pedicini, Stefano Stucchi, Claudio Motta snd Paolo Martinelli came on 4th and Swiss team with Voktor Baumgarten, Lorenzo Hurlimann, Stefan Eigenmann and Kurt Scherrer came on 5th place.

The Doubles Event was also dominated by the UK players who received tough opposition from the French and German players. The Doubles Event was a one sided affair for UK plairs. Karnal Abdin/ Shahin Miah defeated in final their team mates Abdul Mumit/ Ish Gupta 25:0 and Ala Miah/ Tufail Ahmed Malik of UK defeated Fabian Pereira/ Jeremie Cieply of France by 25:22 for position 3 and 4.

The Singles Event was conducted with 11 rounds in two days. Especially Pierre Dubois (France), Nazrul Islam (UK), Karnal Abdin (UK), peter Boecker (Germany) Fabian Pereirra (France), Juergen Husmann (Germany) and Lal Rodrigo (Italy) gave very tough fights to opponents.
The final match of the Singles Events was full of dramatic elements. While Nazrul Islam was leading with 23 to 18 points after seven boards in the first game against Pierre Dubois, the French boy turned the table in the 8th round by winning with a sensational shot which pocket his most difficul piece and opened the rest for a smooth finish, winning by 25:23. The second game was a clear affair for Pierre Dubois who won 25:10.
The third place in Singles event went to Karnal Abdin of UK while Peter Boecker of Germany came on 4th place.

Earlier at the Opening Ceremony on 12th July, Joerg Kijanski, President of the German Carrom Federation welcomed the players from different parts of Europe for their participation in Euro Cup.
Arif Naqvi, President of the European Carrom Confederation inaugurated the 11th Eurocup and praised the development of the standard of Carrom in Europe. The Eurocup is helping not only to increase the standard of the game in Europe but also contributing to friendship and cooperation among the players. The Euro Cup should be considered as practice ground for the coming Malasiya
Open in November this year and World Championship in February next year. GCF Vice President Dirk Polchow explained the modalities of the Euro Cup mentioning to the hard and dedicated work of the members of the RCS association in Dortmund.

Also at the Prize giving ceremony on 15th evening the GCF president Jorg Kijanski acknowledged the support from all federations of Europe and the excellent atmosphere during the tournament.
ECC President Arif Naqvi, who also conveyed greetings form the ICF, praised the high standard of the matches, technical arrangements and excellent hospitality and hoped that the European players will be able demonstrate this rising standard during the coming international tournaments, especially the
World Championship in February 2008 in Cannes, France. GCF Vice President Dirk Polchow especially thanked the sponsors and media for their support. President of the UKCF Vijay Sharma extended invitation to all European players for the participation in 12th Euro Cup in London next year.
The results of the matches were announced by Gunter Seibert, who along with Markus Ense supervised the matches with computer. While Laurent Prost of France and Claudio Motta of Italy
were happy with their jobs as Chief Referee and Assistant Chief Referee.
The 11th Euro Cup was also given wide coverage by the news papers and TV stations of Dortmund.
Earlier a meeting of the Board of Management of the ECC sllotted the 12th Euro Cup 2008 to UK Carrom Federation and appealed to all federations to extend helping hands for the preparations of the World Championship in Cannes, france next year.

by
Arif Naqvi
Chairman
Media Commission of ICF

Carrom Championship in Qatar

(Report by Mr. Abdul Ghafoor)

Doha June 23: Ahmed J Abdul Gafoor, a QP employee has secured a spectacular victory in the ICC carom tournament and emerged as the Champion of the ICC Qatar Open Carrom-2007. Abdul Gafoor bagged the Rolling trophy by being the winner in the singles category of the ICC Open Carom Tournament -2007 by defeating Zahir Kasmani in a tough duel (25-10,23-24,20-1).

The tourney was conducted by Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) Doha, Qatar, which functions under the aegis of Indian Embassy in Qatar, as a part of promoting sporting activities. The entry to the competition was open to all communities residing in Qatar.

Apart from victory in singles category, Abdul Gafoor along with his teammate Raja D Sekaran have been adjudged as the winners in the doubles category by defeating the partnership of N.Venkatesan & Y.Prasanna Kumar (10-25, 21-7, 16-12) though the losers exemplarily performed in the match. While Zahir Kasmani bagged the runner-up trophy in the single category, N.Venkateshan pairing with Prasanna Kumar team won the runner-up trophy in the doubles category.

In the prize distribution ceremony conducted on Thursday the trophies for the winners and runner-ups were given away by the Dr. George Joseph, the Indian Ambassador and ICC Patron, Ravindra P Jaiswal, Chief Coordinating Officer of ICC, Mohammed Azam (Sadia Chicken) and ICC President Hassan Chougule. Gifts were also presented to all umpires and coordinators who rendered assistance to ICC towards coordinating the event.

Earlier, in the trophy presentation ceremony, Habib-un-Nabi, the ICC Sports Secretary, while welcoming the audience said, ICC has encouraged number of entries from other expatriate communities such as, Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal etc. which inspires us to conduct the event every year. Also, next year onwards, contest will be held for both male and female contestants and also categorizing the competitors based on their age group ? sports secretary added.

Ambassador in his address lauded ICC for conducting events particularly with entries open to other communities and proposed to have competitions in other disciplines of indoor games so as to make ICC a centre point for all such activities. Hasan Chougule President of ICC also spoke on the occasion. Saleem Ponnambath proposed a vote of thanks.

Al Zaman Exchange managed by UAE Exchange was the main sponsor of the event. M. Pallonji-Qatar Contracting and trading Co, Galaxy sports and Sadia Chicken also supported the event as associate sponsors

World Series of Carrom with 15 episodes series on air

by S.K. Sharma, Secretary General ICF

One of the major sports channel ?Star Sports? produced a reality show on carrom, which in fact is first reality show on any sports on any channel. The show is titled ?World Seriesof Carrom?. Fifteen episode series is aired as per details given below:

Wednesday 09.30 PM Hindi

Thursday 01.30 PM Hindi (Repeat)

Saturday 11.00 AM English (Repeat)

Sunday 06.30 PM English (Repeat)

Timings are INDIAN STANDARD TIME

Each episode is aired four times a week, two times in English and two times in Hindi. Timings of repeat shows may please be checked on those days. The Series started on 18^th July 2007 and would continue for 15 weeks.

This World Seriesof Carrom (WSC) has 16 players from 11 countries. Five players from India, 2 players from France and 1 player each from Netherlands, Germany, USA, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, UAE and Malaysia participated in the WSC. The WSC is a tournament played on knock-out basis. Rules are new and have been framed by the channel. Break is decided by 'lag' not by toss. A particular player have the same colour of c/m throughout the match. Queen has different values at different stages of the match. Points of Queen are credited even to the loser of the Board. There is a choice of one Power Play Board to each player. There is no restriction of points. Every match is decided on the basis of best of four boards. Colours of the Carrom Board and the carrommen have also been changed. The WSC carries a prize money of One million Indian Rupees.

French Masters: Ranking

Rank

S.No

WOMEN TEAM

WOMEN TEAM

Champion: Farzana Banu Shilpy

CARROM OPEN CUP - PRAHA 2007