History

According to the seniors and veterans in field of Carrom this game was being played in Maharashtra even before 125 years. Primarily the common knowledge is that, Carrom is played just for recreation and as a passtime. This was a fact in the earlier days at least till the year 1954. The state association was formed on 14th August 1954 at the initiative of Shri Muktar Ahmad and Shri K. L. Suri who were founder secretary and president respectively.

Shri. Muktar Ahmad was a really very dedicated and motivated force behind making the game popular among the people. He very painstakingly drafted the constitution and rules regulations for the game of Carrom and made all out efforts to organize tournaments in different parts of Maharashtra. This gave the Carrom the status of a regular competitive sports activity like other games and to erase the stamp of Carrom being only recreational game. In the initial stages regular tournaments were being held by a few clubs in Mumbai. Such as Nagpada Neighborhood House, Bombay Amateur and Star Club. Around this period few other states such as Madras, Vidarbha, Karnataka and Andhra also became active which lead to forming different state associations and ultimately the national federation was formed in 1956. It is worth mentioning that, the players such as Sheikh Azimuddin, Abdul Jabbar, Suhas Kambli, Arun Deshpande and many others from Maharashtra made good impression in the National Championships and brought laurels to Maharashtra. The mission pioneered by Muktar Ahmed was taken up by devoted officials like Shrikrishna Maskar, Dinesh Manerikar, Prakash Rele and many others. As a result of concerted efforts of these officials the game became more and more popular thereby spreading to different parts of Maharashtra. The number of participants in the tournaments increased encouragingly. Today participation in the state Championships is in the range of 600 to 700 players. The matches are witnessed by thousands of spectators and are covered by print and electronic media. During this period of transition since 1954 the equipment of the game underwent gradual modification and as a result the technique and the skill required also underwent many changes. Our players quickly adjusted to these changes and maintained the tradition of excelling in the National events. Players such as Arun Kedar, Nagsen Etambe, Jagan Bengle, Sanjay Mande, Mahendra Tambe, Yogesh Pardeshi, Sandeep Deorukhkar, Prakash Gaikwad, Anupama Kedar, Sangeeta Chandorkar excelled in the National and International events.

As more and more tournaments started being conducted, gradually women players started participating. Thus separate events for women came into being. Further, more events for juniors boys and girls and also for veterans above 45 years of age were introduced. Some Carrom lovers and clubs started their own coaching activities. Regular exams started being held for qualifying as state and national umpires. All these developments brought the game very close to other games as competitive sports activity. The Government of Maharashtra on its part took due notice of the efforts made by the state association, increasing numbers of players and tournaments and growing popularity of the game and there after granted recognition. Government also considered Carrom for Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Awards for sports activity. The first such award was granted in the year 1982 to Suhas Kambli and Nalini Bolinjkar.

Various corporate and non corporate organisations became aware of this game and started recognizing the game. Many such players were picked up by by banks, government offices and corporates to be part of their Carrom team to represent them in big events. This opened doors of the job prospects for number of Carrom players.

Despite the impressive progress made as above one has to accept the fact that the common man has still to know the Carrom as a competitive sports activity. The spectators and Carrom lovers are mostly Carrom players or ex-Carrom players only. People at large still take Carrom to be recreational activity. They do not know how the game is played, rules and regulations, the mental skills required, in fact the features which are necessary for any sports activity. Today people who have never played a game of cricket, football, badminton, hockey and tennis know everything about these games, even the star players of the game. It is a matter of great distress that our people do not know who is Yogesh Pardeshi, who is a World Carrom Champion. The real task before the present officials or the committee members of the state association is to change this state of affairs. To bring Carrom on par with other sports activity popularitywise. For this the state body intends to take up this issue on war front by liaisoning with all types of media and organizing a number of activities such as holding grand championships, rally "Run for Carrom". launching a web site www.maharashtracarromassociation.com giving total information of Carrom and distributing promotional articles such as Calendar 2014, Wall Clock, T-Shirt, Caps, etc. as part of celebrating Diamond Jubilee Year, 60th Anniversary of the Maharashtra Carrom Association. This is only possible because of wholehearted active support of the players, well wishers, manufacturers of Carrom equipments, Sponsors, corporate and non corporate organizations without which it would be impossible to make this mission a success.