South Asian Carrom Championships from today

Dilanka Mannakkara

“We are the carrom World Champions and we will try our utmost to beat the strong Indian team in the 14th SAARC Carrom Championship” said Wijeya Amarasinghe, Chairman, Sri Lanka Carrom Federation at a press conference held at Galadari Hotel recently.

He further added “Sri Lanka as you know is a founder member of both the International Carrom Federation (ICF) as well as the Asian Carrom Confederation (ACC). We have participated in many International Championships held locally and abroad and we were able to clinch the 5th World Championship in France in 2008 which coincided with the 50th Birth Anniversary of the Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka.

For the men’s team, M Sheriffdeen, a youngster has joined the team which will strengthen the side and give good support to Chamil Cooray and Nishantha Fernando who are among the best players in the world of carrom. The women’s side consists of three young school girls- all under 19 years - Sri Lanka No.1 Joseph Roshita from All Saints Balika Vidyala, Borella, Sri Lanka No.2 Chalani Lakmali and Sri Lanka No.3 Madushika Kanchanamala both from Anula Vidyalaya, Nugegoda. This augurs well for the women’s side as they will get exposure from these encounters at a very young age which will be of immense help to them in the future.

Langley Mathais, National Coach mentioned that Sri Lanka’s feats in Carrom by further adding “We have also won Two Men’s Doubles Championships - one at the Inaugural Asian Carrom Championship held in Male in 2005 and the other at the 5th ICF Cup Carrom Championship held in Sri Lanka in 2008. In all other Championships we have been Runners up to India who has been dominating the carrom scene for many years.

He also mentioned that the Sri Lankan players have received training in Carrom practice, physical training and also to improve on concentration levels.

Wijeya Amarasinghe also said “We have not left any stones unturned in our attempt to improve the standard of carrom in Sri Lanka, especially with our top class players. For the first time, in order to achieve positive results, we have included motivation and meditation lectures by professional persons. This we feel will definitely enhance their power of concentration and give a boost to the game and confidence to themselves. We hope therefore, that our players will benefit by these programs and be able to give better results.

To-date, thirteen SAARC Carrom Championships have been conducted consecutively under the auspices of the Asian Carrom Confederation. The inaugural SAARC Championship was in 1997 in Male, organised by the Maldives Carrom Federation which has conducted seven SAARC Championships in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005.

The Bangladesh Carrom Federation organized one SAARC Championship in 2003. India has hosted three in 2004, 2007 and 2009 and Sri Lanka has organized two SAARC Championships in 2006, 2008 and will be hosting its third this year which is the 14th SAARC Carrom Championship going to be held at Galadari Hotel, Colombo from 26-28 July

The Teams for the 14th SAARC Carrom Championship are as follows:-

Men: Chamil Cooray (Overall Captain), D Nishantha Fernando, M Sheriffdeen Women: Joseph Roshita, Chalani Lakmali Liyanage, Madushika Kanchanamala

Reserves: Germain Goonawardena, Nethmi Umanga Jayasinghe

Rohana Athauda, a Vice President of the Carrom Federation will be the Manager of the above teams. P S Manoj from India will be the Chief Referee while Mrs Rohini Mathiasz of Sri Lanka will be the Assist. Chief Referee.