The future of carrom lies in the hands of youngsters
The Sri Lanka Carrom Federation will kick off its events for 2015 with the 47th National Championship scheduled to be played next week at the Carrom Federation head-quarters, Maharagama.
Chamil Cooray
Looking back at last year Mrs. Rohini Mathiasz, former women’s champion and the General Secretary of the Carrom Federation, revealed that last year about six young girls and boys showed a lot of promise and displayed good talent in the events that they took part . She is confident that Sri Lankas future in the discipline of carrom rests on their shoulders. These talented set of youngsters will be taking part in this year’s Nationals which will help them to improve and to show their skills at the Junior Nationals and Grand Slam.
When asked by the Sunday Times about the possibility of these youngsters to dethrone the present top ranked players who dominated in last year’s tournaments, the general secretary said that may be not in the near future. She pointed that very little time is permitted for these young ones for practices due to their commitment in their studies and the present top ranked players are aware that to be at the top they need to practice a lot which they will have to do for long hours. She pointed out that she dominated Sri Lanka Carrom for over fifteen years as the women’s champ because of dedication, commitment and sacrifice to the game. Eventhough she was beaten on several occasions she was not disheartened and came back by correcting her mistakes. She firmly believes that ‘Failures are the pillars of successes.’
Last year over ten tournaments were organised and conducted by the federation. The same number of events will be worked-off this year as well. When inquired about the preparations for the World Cup to be held in 2016 the secretary said that the players need not to have special training as
Chalani Lakmali (right) have been in great shape in the recent past. Both have been regular members of the Sri Lankan squad - File pix
right through out the year the SLCF will be conducting various tournaments. Every one will be in good touch when it comes to international exposure, giving examples as winning the Gold in the Men’s Team event in France in 2008 and in 2012 at the Fifth World Carrom championship winning the Gold in the Men’s singles event, she emphasized. At the World event held in Sun Island, Male last year Sri Lanka
Rohini Mathiasz
emerged as the runner-up in the team event while Chamil Cooray and Chalani Lakmali was ranked fifth and sixth, respectively in world rankings.
Finally she revealed that at the tournaments held last year lot of youngsters showed immense talent but lacked experience. The federation expects more and more schoolboys and girls to take part in this year’s tournaments and a bright future for Sri Lanka carrom lies in the hands of these youngsters with a little more dedication and commitment to the game. The future of the carrom players looks bright as the Defence Services are recruiting ranked players which will make way for more youngsters to take up the game.
Tournaments that are scheduled to be held this year: 47th Nationals, Grand Slam; 13th Junior Nationals; 15th Novices Championship; The President’s Cup; 27th Federation Cup; Lanka Plate; Inter Club League; Rangers Open and the Prize Money Tournament.