In order to make the game of carrom media and spectator friendly besides attracting common man to this game and making it more popular, the All India Carrom Federation has introduced shorter version of the game and adopted lot of new schemes. The historic and revolutionary decisions were taken by the Working Committee of the Federation in its marathon meeting held on 2nd and 3rd March 2009 at New Delhi.

The Federation will conduct all tournaments on new rules with effect from 1st April 2009. It has also directed all State and District Associations to follow the new rules. As per new rules, it will take about 60 minutes to complete a match whereas earlier it was taking about 135 minutes to finish a match. All the matches would now be decided by best of three games of four boards or 23 points whichever is earlier. Queen will now carry 2 points as against existing 3 points. Queen will not be required to be covered. A player will get only 10 seconds for making a stroke instead of 15 seconds. In case of tie of score after 4 boards, tie-breaker and then sudden death will be applied. The Federation conducted an experimental All India prize money tournament on new rules at New Delhi. Based on the feed back received from the participating players and the success of the tournament, the Federation adopted new rules. Yogesh Pardeshi of PSPB who is the current World Champion, won the tournament while Sandeep Deorukhkar of PSPB and M. Nataraj of Indian Airlines got 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.

To motivate State & District Associations, umpires and players for better performance, the Federation instituted annual ‘Carrom Excellency Awards’. It decided to organize a week long residential coaching programmes for cadets, sub-junior and junior level players in all zones during the forthcoming summer vacation followed by two more camps during the remaining part of the year. The Federation has recently signed two agreements with two District Associations to start residential carrom academies in Varanasi in UP and Akola in Vidarbha. It has formulated a separate scheme for training of senior players. It will organise ‘training for trainers’ courses every year and create a fresh panel of coaches in every State besides having a national panel of coaches. It has introduced new examination system for Umpires and Referees. The Federation also adopted a new selection procedure of Indian players for their participation in international events.

It has been made mandatory for all State Associations to depute girls and women teams in all national championships failing which they will be suspended for one year without any notice. It has also been made necessary for all State and District Associations to organize separate events for junior and sub-junior boys and girls in their State and District Championships. The Federation has decided to focus on marketing and publicity of this game. It has decided to circulate carrom CDs and especially designed brochures in about 5000 schools and colleges. The Federation would advertise its events on radio channels and send big number of SMS to create awareness among the masses. It has decided to give special incentives to girls and women players for participating in national level tournaments.

The Federation introduced a new scheme to send birthday greetings to more than 1000 Indian players, umpires and officials every year and it has already got printed specially designed birthday greeting cards and started sending. It has introduced new uniform for umpires, referees, Indian players and officials.

SOURCE : http://www.indiancarrom.com/press-release.htm

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Second seeds R.M. Shankara and M. Nataraj (IASCB) clinched the men’s doubles title by toppling top seeds and defending champions Yogesh Pardeshi and Ramesh Babu (PSPB) in the 11th inter-institution National carrom championships here on Wednesday.

The results (doubles): Men (final): R.M. Shankara & M. Nataraj (IASCB) bt Yogesh Pardeshi & Ramesh Babu (PSPB) 2-13, 19-5, 6-5. Losers’ final: Irfan & Prakash Gaekwad (LIC) bt Abdul Sagir & G. Shiva (RBI) 17-3, 22-2. Semifinals: Shankara & Nataraj bt Irfan & Prakash 12-0, 13-4; Yogesh & Ramesh bt Abdul & Shiva 9-5, 14-9.

Women (final): Sangeeta Chandorkar & Kavitha Somanchi (RBI) bt D. Swarnalatha & R. Sharmila (IAAD) 15-0, 14-0. Losers’ final: S. Apoorva & Bharati Narayan (LIC) bt Shobhawati & R. Sarita (RBI) 12-0, 0-12, 9-0. Semifinals: Sangeeta & Kavita bt Apoorva & Bharti 13-6, 6-3; Swarnalatha & Sharmila bt Shobhawati & Sarita 6-4, 18-3.

SOURCE : http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/04/stories/2009060453541600.htm

The first Carrom Congress was held in 1988 and the first international tournament was held in 1989 with India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Germany, Switzerland & Holland competing for a silver cup. Undoubtedly, the most important event in unifying Carrom players around the world has been the codification of rules for tournament play by the ICF. Prior to the formation of the International Federation, players from various countries followed different rules, making international competition impossible. With the creation of the Laws of Carrom teams from all the Carrom-playing countries are now able to agree on rules and this is how International Standard Carrom was been born. With regulations covering the dimensions of the board and playing pieces as well.

SOURCE : http://www.indiavilas.com/kidscorner/defaultmain.asp?k=carrom

Serious carrom tournaments began in Sri Lanka in 1935. In 1958, both India and Sri Lanka formed official federations of Carrom clubs, sponsoring tournaments and awarding prizes. Rankings of statewide teams in India began in 1956 and the first matches between national teams viz: India v. Sri Lanka) occurred in the 1960s. Regional competitions have also taken place in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, and the Republic of the Maldives.

SOURCE : http://www.indiavilas.com/kidscorner/defaultmain.asp?k=carrom

Carrom is a GAME of FUN and a rule are set aside to a minimum and are very popular in Asia and is played well with family and friends. It is a GAME of fun and rules are set aside to a minimum. All GAMES must be played with the only motive of enjoyment. As with all other games the part of contest creeps in. You desire to show that you are better than the other person in playing the game. However, if you are the loser all the time then you lose importance of carrom. There are different ways of flicking the striker with one of your FINGER. Try all of them and then choose the technique, which SUITS you the best. You might find later on that shifting your STYLE might perk up on your accuracy.In the UK, Carrom has recently started to gain popularity and competitions are taking place at all levels. To a greater extent rules are being introduced like setting time limits among shots; not being clever to stand up during a GAME to extend your LEGS; not being able to shout and leap in the air, not talking to your challenger in case you put them off; when you are unbeaten after a tricky shot etc.

There are two things which need to be followed: The first is stable your striking pass on the carom gear board with the base/edge of your palm, and/or thumb, and/or non-striking fingers. This makes sure that the striker is flicked and not pushed. The other thing is to confirm your striking finger is as close as you could to the striker, touching it if possible. If your finger is a far away from the striker, when you flick it your nail will hit the striker that could simply cause PAIN in your finger.

SOURCE : http://carromboardtips1.blogspot.com/2008/09/carrom-board-tips.html