10th SAARC CARROM CHAMPIONSHIP HELD IN
SRI LANKA
Conducted by the Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka
13th to 15th -- August - 2006
Arif Naqvi/Panneer
Selvam/Langley Mathisz:
The 10th SARC Carrom Championship commenced on 13th
August 2006. It was held at Hotel White Haven
situated at Panadura about 30 kilometers away from the
hustle and bustle of Colombo. The hotel boasted of a
scenic view of the sea and surrounding area and it also had
a swimming pool which was used often by those
present. All hotels in Colombo were booked well in advance
for the South Asian Games from 18th to 28th
August and was fully occupied. The following countries
participated: India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Pakistan
(Bangladesh did not participate although they had intimated
to us as far back as June that they were participating)
27 players, 12 officials and 20 umpires participated at this
Championship. Sri Lanka as hosts fielded two
mens/two womens teams. Each team consisted of 3 players and
there were 9 teams participating for the
team event on the 1st day i.e. 13th August 2006 - 5 Men's
teams and 4 Women's teams.
All players and officials arrived on the 12th August which
was very helpful. On the evening of the same
day a meeting was held between Managers/representatives of
the four countries present. The country to host the next -
11th SARC Championship was not decided since Bangladesh was
not present. Nevertheless, Pakistan stated that since
they were quite new they will conduct the 12th SARC
Championship in 2008. This was gladly welcomed by those
present.
Next the draw was held and the seeding done according to the
past winners/runners up and those players present in Sri
Lanka. The meeting was concluded on a cordial footing and
everyone present looked forward to a successful
championship.
Opening Ceremony- The Opening Ceremony commenced at 9 a.m.
with Mr.Sripathi Sooriaratchchi, Minister of
Skills Development and Public Enterprise Reforms as the
Chief Guest. Mr. Nandana Goonetilleke Member of
Parliament for the Panadura area who was a carrom player of
repute in his young days was the Guest of
Honour. He was so taken up with the Championship being held
in his electorate, that he made it a point
to visit the venue on the 12th night and spend nearly 2
hours watching the players at practice. They were
garlanded and welcomed by 6 girls under the age of 15
dressed in their traditional half sarees and flowers.
The party was conducted upstairs to the playing hall.
Deviating from the traditional lighting of the oil
lamp, this time a human lamp lighting ceremony was
organized with dancers holding the candles in a
dancing pose. It was quite picturesque. Thereafter the
Chief Guest was introduced to the players of all
countries, after which a Kandyan dance was performed by
local dancers. Mr. Mervyn Jayasinghe, the
President of CFSL welcomed the guests and after two speeches
by Dr. Zaheer-Nasir, President ACC and the
Chief Guest the 10th SARC Carrom Champinship was declared
open by the Chief Guest. The highlight of
the morning was one board or frame being played by the Chief
Guest and Mr. Nandana Goonetilleke the one time
carrom player who was able to win comfortably over the Chief
Guest.
All this took place within one hour and by 10.00 a.m. the
Opening Ceremony was over. All players and their
Managers were requested to be at the hall by 11 a.m. to
begin the matches.
The Chief Referee Mr. Panneer Selvam of India and Mrs.
Rohini Mathiasz Asst. Chief Referee were very punctual
and commenced team event matches exactly at 11.00 a.m.
Between them they did a wonderful job in conducting
the Championship without any incidents. The matches
continued till 8 p.m. since the team events had to be
concluded. In the men?s/women?s team events India were
winners with Sri Lanka as Runners up. The
results will be given at the end of this report.
Next day commenced with Mens/Womens Singles matches which
were played up to pre-quarter stage and
thereafter the Mens/Womens Doubles commenced at 4.00 p.m.
Mixed doubles were also worked off thereafter.
On 15th the last day, the Mens/Womens Doubles Finals and
the position matches were played in the
morning. At 1 p.m. the Semi Finals of the Mens/Womens
Singles and the position matches commenced. The Finals were
played at 3 p.m. and worked off by 5 p.m. Chamil Cooray of
Sri Lanka managed to secure the 3rd place creditably in the
Men's Singles event beating P. Sasidharan of India in
straight sets.
Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony commenced at 6.30 p.m. Although it
rained at both ceremonies, it
was no hindrance since the ceremonies were held
indoors. The Chief Guest on this occasion was the
Auditor General of Sri Lanka Mr. S.C. Mayadunne. It was a
simple but colourful ceremony. The lighting of
the oil lamp was done on a plantain tree trunk which was
something new for the visitors. There was a
reputed band in attendance who provided music in between
dances and speeches. The awards were
distributed by the Chief Guest and the other distinguished
guests who were present there.
The Executive Committee members of the Carrom Federation of
Sri Lanka had, with a view to assisting
some poor schools who were very keen and urgently in need of
carrom boards collected funds among themselves
and bought three carrom boards to be given to these
deserving schools. This was considered a magnanimous
gesture by those present and the carrom boards were
presented to a teacher and student from the respective
schools. Schools from 2 remote areas benefited by this
gesture. The Ceremony was declared closed by the
Chief Guest thereafter.
Dinner was partaken by those present and thereafter
everybody - players and officials from all the
countries took to the floor and danced their way till
midnight. There was a lot of dancing to the music of
the band in attendance and every body enjoyed and had fun
till midnight. All in all it was a wonderful and
very successful Championship enjoyed by one and all - thanks
to the officials of the Carrom Federation of
Sri Lanka.
Altogether 9 slams were scored by the players
P.Sasidharan (India) 2 white
slams
Yogesh Pardeshi (India) 2 slams (1
white, 1 Black)
I. Ilavazhaki (India) (Female) 3 white
slams ( 2 in one set)
Ravindra Gaud (India)
1 white slam
D. Nishantha Fernando (Sri Lanka) - 1 white
slam
The results of the Championship are given under:
10th SARC CARROM CHAMPIONSHIP 2006.
13th to 15th -- August - 2006
Rankings
MENS SINGLES
WOMEN SINGLES
1. Ravindra Goud (IND)
1 Rashmi Kumari (IND)
2. Yogesh Paradeshi (IND)
2. I. Ilavazhaki
(IND)
3. Chamil Cooray (SL)
3. P. Nirmala (IND)
4. P. Sasidaran (IND)
4. Amitha Wickremasinghe (SL)
5 Germain Goonawardena (Sri Lanka)
5. Kalyani Amerasinghe (SL)
6. Viraj Fernando (Sri Lanka)
6. Nadeeshani Rupasinghe (SL)
7. Hussain Neesham (MDV) 7. Aminath
Nima (MDV)
8. Ali Niyaz (MDV)
8. Aishath Fainaz (MDV)
MENS DOUBLES
WOMANS DOUBLES
1. Yogesh Paradeshi/P.Sasidharan (IND)
1. Rashmi Kumari/I. Ilavazhaki (IND)
2. Ajith Chandrasoma / Germain Goonawardena ( SL)
2. Aminath Nima/A. Shazna (MDV)
3. Chamil Cooray /D.N. Fernando
(SL) 3. Amitha/Nayana Wickremasinghe (SL)
4. Hussain Neesham / Hussain Ali (MDV)
4 Leela de Silva / Kalyani Amerasinghe (SL)
MIXED DOUBLES
1. Ravindra Goud/P.Nirmala (Ind)
2. Upali Perera / Nadeeshani Rupasinghe (SL)
3. Viraj Fernando / Yasika Rahubadda (SL)
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
MEN
WOMEN
1. INDIA 1. INDIA
2. SRI LANKA A 2.
SRI LANKA B
3. SRI LANKA B
3. MALDIVES
4. MALDIVES 4. SRI LANKA A
5. PAKISTAN
