At the beginning of my journey, I was playing carrom in College and at the residence of my classmate PS Mehra at Dariba Kalan in old Delhi. Both Mehra and me formed a Double team and participated in local carrom tournaments in which only straight pocketing was allowed. We won Double titles in those State level tournaments held at Sarai Rohilla and Chitranjan Park in 1971 and 1972. Whenever I was getting free time, I was practicing carrom during late evening hours in an open street behind Golcha Cinema in Darya Ganj. It was there I met late Ashok Sharma, former General Secretary of the All India Carrom Federation and became his close friend. From there onwards, I never looked back. I started participating in local & state level carrom tournaments in Delhi. I was regularly witnessing and enjoying matches of top Delhi players. After witnessing a skilful and magical match between Suhas Kambli and Nissar Ahmed during Senior national championship held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi in 1983, I became determined to pursue this game further.

After joining ‘MMTC Limited’ in February 1980, I started playing carrom daily in my office during lunch hour and after office hours occasionally. I formed MMTC Carrom Club and regularly organized carrom competitions. MMTC Carrom Club received regular financial assistance from the management of MMTC for carrom activities. I organized Delhi State Inter-Institution Carrom Championship in MMTC office under the aegis of the Delhi Carrom Association. The Championship was sponsored by MMTC. Our MMTC team performed exceedingly well and secured Runners up position in that Championship. Later I arranged carrom demonstration and exhibition matches of top Indian national players in MMTC premises. With the support of MMTC I organized a felicitation function for top Indian players in prestigious Scope Auditorium and conducted a meeting of the Working Committee of the Federation in May 1990 in MMTC. I also arranged competitions between famous carrom clubs of Delhi and MMTC team. As a result, MMTC Carrom players started performing well in Delhi tournaments. Few players of MMTC represented Delhi State team in various national championships. MMTC management extended financial support to its employees for participating in national events. Seven employees of MMTC were empanelled as National Carrom Umpires after qualifying examinations. Within few years of my involvement in carrom at MMTC and Federation levels, MMTC fraternity started calling me ‘Carrom vaale Sharmaji’.

I represented MMTC Corporate Office team in several All India MMTC Inter- Regional Carrom Tournaments. My best moments in those meets were at Bombay when I beat a local carrom hero of MMTC Bombay, Rathore in front of large crowd witnessing the match. I could know later that Bombay office staff was struggling to witness my match when they came to know that some unknown player from Delhi was leading and winning against their office hero. My two senior Carrom colleagues J. V. Sangam and Nagarajan conducted that tournament.

I continued my journey as a carrom player further. I regularly participated in District and State level tournaments in Haryana and won top positions. Then on qualifying to represent Haryana as a player, I participated in several national championships and other All India Carrom events. Earlier, I represented Delhi in qualifying rounds of Senior National Championship. My first participation in a Senior National Championship as a player was in 1991 at Guntur followed by next Senior National Championship in 1993 at Ambernath.

In 1985, I was unanimously elected as Assistant Treasurer of the Delhi Carrom Association, my first entry as a carrom administrator. Late Ashok Sharma became General Secretary of the Delhi Carrom Association in that election. It was late Ashok Sharma who brought me to carrom administration. The first participation of my life in a Senior National Carrom Championship was at Sholapur (Maharashtra) in 1986 when I led Delhi State Women Carrom Team as its Manager.

After shifting our house from Delhi to Faridabad, I resigned from my post of Assistant Treasurer in Delhi and formed the District Carrom Association in Faridabad in 1991. I was unanimously elected as General Secretary of FDCA, first position in carrom as executive head but at the lowest level. In 1992 I was elected as Joint Secretary of the Haryana Carrom Association. I succeeded in persuading the Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad, Mr. S.S. Prasad, IAS to join the District Carrom Association as its President and we started working together. Later, he agreed to lead the Haryana Carrom Association as its President.

In March 1990, my friend late Ashok Sharma and Arekapudi Subba Rao of Andhra Pradesh were elected as General Secretary and President of the All India Carrom Federation respectively. On 7.5.1990, I was appointed as a Member of the Finance Sub-Committee of the All India Carrom Federation for a term of four years. It was my first formal entry into the Federation. Ashok Sharma was a dynamic personality and always believed in innovation. He was doing very well in carrom. Through Union Sports Minister he got office space for the Federation in prestigious IG Indoor Stadium, New Delhi and a Government paid office Assistant for day to day functioning of the Federation.

Click here to see my complete Carrom Profile at a glance.

After failing in his two attempts to destabilise the Federation in February 1995, R.K. Mudgal along with M. Sharan and other officials of the Delhi Carrom Association made a frustrated bid for a coup in the Federation in 1997. They with their group came to Chandigarh on the preceding day of the AGM during ongoing Senior National Championship held in 1997. They tried to convince State Secretaries to throw out SK Sharma but they completely failed on all counts. On the contrary AGM gave a ruling that Sharan, being an employee of the Federation as Assistant Secretary, should immediately relinquish his position of General Secretary in Delhi Carrom Association and was banned from holding any position in any Carrom Association or Federation. He complied with the directions of AGM. On suffering a humiliating defeat they left Chandigarh immediately. The Coup in fact strengthened the unity and bonding of State Secretaries. The support of my colleagues rejuvenated my functioning.

With practical experience I learnt to administer the Federation like a good carrom player - stay patient, believe in yourself, survive the challenging conditions and play defining strokes.

During my journey of 18 years in Federation, I successfully organised all 54 obligatory national championships in senior, junior and sub-junior categories. Besides, I organised 17 All India Federation Cup Tournaments, 13 Inter-Institution National Championships, good number of Zonal Championships, Inter-Zonal National Championships, Prize Money All India Tournaments and Zonal Invitation Tournaments. I also organised 8 International/ Continental tournaments in 6 different cities and 5 Test Series in 15 cities of India out of which World Carrom Championship, World Cup, SAARC Championship and Champion of Champions International Tournament were organised in five-star Hotels at Delhi & Gurgaon.

To promote carrom further and to attract foreign players to carrom I took initiative to start bilateral Test Series with UK and France in 1996 and Switzerland, Poland and Czech Republic in 2011 while Indo-German Test Series was started in 1993. I introduced Test Series for Junior players with Sri Lanka in 2013 while Test Series with Sri Lanka for senior players was already in vogue. I deputed Indian National Carrom Teams to 59 International & Continental events/ International Test Series (48 abroad & 11 in India) and organised about 60 Coaching Camps for Indian Teams and several felicitation functions for Indian Teams after their arrival in India.

As General Secretary of Haryana Carrom Association and District Carrom Associations, I organised 17 International/ National/Zonal level events - an International Tournament, Indo-Sri Lanka Junior Test Series, friendly matches with German Team, 8 National Championships, a Federation Cup Tournament, a North Zone Championship, Training for Trainers course, Selection Trials, several Coaching Camps for Indian Teams and a special training camp for North Zone Junior players in Haryana besides organising State & Inter-District Carrom Championships every year.

I introduced ‘Training for Trainers’ courses for empanelment of Coaches who could impart training to school children and young players at District and State levels. I conducted three such courses at Mumbai, Faridabad and Dehradun with subjects of Psychology in carrom, killing instinct, enhancing concentration, yoga, mental & physical fitness, role of a coach besides Laws of Carrom etc. These courses were supported by Mr. Arun Deshpande, an international Coach and a former National Champion who also imparted theoretical and practical training to participants. These courses were well attended and appreciated by one and all.

The Federation received grant-in-aid from the Union Sports Ministry for all 54 national championships I organised during my tenure of 18 years. It also started getting Government Grants for all five zonal championships every year organised from 2008 onwards. Government sanctions grants only after ensuring that the Federation was following Government Guidelines/Sports Code properly, working in a transparent manner, submitting its Annual Reports and audited Annual Accounts every year to Ministry, etc. It gives me great satisfaction and makes me happy to say that the Federation was able to maintain Government recognition for the whole period of my tenure of 18 years and received grants for the Federation for all the 54 nationals the Federation organised in 18 years.

To give appropriate exposure to players recruited under sports quota by companies & Institutions affiliated to the Federation, I introduced an Institutional National Championship in January 1998 and made it part of National Ranking system.

Then, to give exposure to Junior players (under 18 years of age) and an opportunity to learn from senior players, they were made part of Zonal Championships. It helped them in getting admissions, scholarships and jobs under sports quota and enhancing their skill level. To give proper importance to Zonal Championships, Inter-Zonal National Championship was given National Ranking status. To impart proper training to junior and sub-junior players through international and national coaches, Zonal Coaching Camps were introduced in 2009.

In order to unearth new talent in India and to prepare them for future, I introduced national events for cadets boys and girls (under 12 years of age) and Youth boys and girls (under 21 years of age). Slowly it became a revolution in India since State Associations started organising State and District level events for these age groups for selecting their State teams for National Championship. At the same time, a separate Women Veteran event on the lines of Men Veteran event was introduced. To give a meaning to the age of veteran players, the minimum eligibility age limit for both categories of veteran players was raised from 45 to 50 years.

Foremost decision was to improve playing environment and facilities for players in national events. Players were getting a meagre daily allowance of Rs.25 per day from the first day of the event till the day of their elimination from the event. The Federation improved this facility significantly and started providing all meals, good lodging and transport facilities one day prior to the last day/next day of the completion of the event for all participants. Then to improve further the quality of food and stay regular steps were taken. Daily allowance and Incidental charges for qualified National/ International Umpires and Technical Officials were revised several times. Washing Allowance was introduced for Umpires. Slowly participants started getting AC venues with good facilities.

Earlier, players in all national events were forced to remain present in the playing hall for all the days to listen to the announcement of their matches for every round. In the process they were facing lot of inconvenience and stress besides losing much required focus and concentration. Several players lost their matches without play on missing announcement of their matches in noisy and crowded playing hall. Since announcements were consuming 40 to 60 minutes before each session of play, daily schedule was extended even to midnight. To give much needed relief to players, I introduced a draws bookletcontaining draws, timings, board numbers, schedule of matches and posting of umpires. I made it compulsory for all units to send their entries 10-15 days in advance. I prepared and circulated the draws booklet at the venue one day before the event. It helped players and umpires both in reporting to their respective carrom boards at their scheduled time making them comfortable and to play their matches without stress and with improved concentration. Players got big relief since they were able to know the timings and board numbers for all rounds through Draws Booklet well in advance. They were getting free from their matches by about 6 PM daily.

I could get air tickets of Indian team sponsored by Air India for the first time in 1997 for their participation in 1 st SAARC Championship held at Maldives. We could get more sponsorship of air tickets for Indian players through J.P. Agarwal, M.P. & former President AICF and Ratan Singh, IRS, Associate President, AICF.

On many occasions I made the Federation to pay participation fee of players or got it sponsored for participation in international tournaments. Within few years of my taking over the Federation, I shifted the financial liability of organising Coaching Camps from players to the Federation or to State Associations.

I was able to get the game of carrom included once again in the ‘Talent Search Scholarship Scheme’ of the Sports Authority of India. Hence, Junior/Sub-Junior National and State position holders started getting scholarships from SAI.

During first Senior National Championship of my tenure held at Faridabad in 1995, Winners of all events were presented 10 grams Medals of Pure Gold. Similarly, first three position holders of 3rd World Championship held at New Delhi in 2000 were also presented pure Gold and Silver Medals. Till date these are the only two Federation activities where pure Gold and Silver Medals were awarded.

Men and Women winners of SAARC Championship held in a five star Resort at Delhi in 2004, were presented a TVS Motorbike valued Rs.50,000 appx and TVS Scooty valued at Rs.30,000. Till date it remains the only occasion at national or international level where Motorbike and Scooty were awarded to carrom players.

After achieving excellence at international and national levels, Indian top players started getting big amounts of cash prizes. Maria Irudayam was gifted a house and I. Ilavazhaki was presented a cash award of Rs.10 lakhs by Government of Tamil Nadu. When NDTV run a story on Ilavazhaki on her winning the World Championship in 2008, she received about Rs.20 lakhs within 24 hours. Rashmi Kumari once received annual cash prize of Rs.15 lakhs from her employer, ONGC. Yogesh Pardeshi also received Rs.5 lakhs from the Government of Maharashtra and separately from his office. Likewise many other players like P. Nirmala and S. Appoorva also received cash prizes from their Governments. These are just few examples but the list is long. Players also received big cash prizes in US Open, SAARC and Malaysian Open international events.

For 3rd World Carrom Championship held at Delhi we could get a good amount of sponsorship for the first time from PEPSI. It was through J.Y. Lele, Secretary BCCI with the support of Rajesh Mahant. For all the carrom events organised by me I could get sponsorships from both public and private sector companies.

I successfully approached various Public Sector companies and banks to recruit carrom players under sports quota. I made vigorous efforts to get the game of carrom included in National Games, SAF Games and recommended carrom players and coaches for Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards. Former AICF President, JP Agarwal personally took me to the offices of Mani Shanker Aiyer, Sports Minister for Arjuna Award and President of Indian Olympic Association, Suresh Kalmadi for including carrom in National Games. Then he through the office of HRD Minister, Kapil Sibbal got included carrom in CBSE sports calendar. I also recommended the name of A. Maria Irudayam and few other players for Padam Shri Award.

To pursue the cases of carrom players for Awards, cash prizes and upgradation of category of carrom, I took carrom delegations to various Union Sports Ministers - R. Dhanuskodi Athithan, Uma Bharti, S.S. Dhindsa, Vijay Goel, Sunil Dutt, Mani Shanker Aiyer, M.S. Gill, Ajay Maken and Sarbananda Sonowal. Three delegations to Mani Shanker Aiyer and M.S. Gill were led by J.P. Agarwal, Member of Parliament, Ratan Singh, IRS and few other Associate Vice-Presidents.

I helped players and officials who were working in Government departments and PSUs and appointed as Managers and Coaches of Indian Teams, Chief/Asstt Chief Referees & Umpires to get special increments, TA/DA and on duty leave for their international participation and achieving excellence.

In order to improve the quality of playing equipments, I regularly sought feedback from players and officials. In the beginning, Carrom Boards were bending, frames were breaking, bubbles were coming up on surface and drawing was inaccurate. Carrommen (coins) were found to have problems related to wood density and design besides inconsistent weight. I regularly called manufacturers at the venues of nationals for finalising corrective measures on the spot. With dedicated efforts and vigorous follow up I was successful in continuously improving the quality of playing equipments over the years.

I faced a big challenge when in terms of ‘Wild Life Protection Act’ Federation was forced to ban the use of ‘Ivory’ Strikers with effect from 1st May 1998. Ivory strikers were believed to be the best for display of high level skill in carrom. Players got upset and raised the issue since they thought it would leave major impact on the level of their skill. I discussed the issue with Coaches and manufacturers of strikers. Ultimately, when senior players participated with different material strikers in first Senior National at Nagpur after ban of ivory strikers, they scored 70 Slams in that Championship and Maria Irudayam maintained his supremacy by winning the title. As a result, all apprehensions were put to rest.

In order to take carrom to the next level, it was felt necessary to carry out major administrative reforms for improving the existing structure and to make the management accountable. Therefore, efforts were made to apply the principles and practices pertaining to good governance, ethical dimensions, accountability, fairness & transparency, democratic decision making and ensuring compliance to Government guidelines.

I took an avant-garde decision to uplift the image of the game of carrom. Players were participating in national events in kurta pyjama, lungi, chappals and other casual dresses. It was giving a negative impact on the promotion of carrom. Hence, to raise its status and to make the national events presentable, uniform for players was made compulsory and a new ‘dress code’ for Umpires with necktie of specific design and colour was introduced.

In order to bring in transparency in ‘draws’ for all national activities and to modernise the technical working, I, at my personal level, developed a special software for taking out draws within few minutes with proper seeding. Although we continued to use it at Federation headquarters but we could not make it effective in the absence of poor logistic support made available at the venues of the national activities.

There were no set rules for seeding and ranking of players, draws, League point system, play-off matches, age verification of junior and sub-junior players, hospitality to be provided to players, etc. Hence, I prepared a draft comprehensive set of Tournament Guidelines in September 1995 covering all technical and administrative aspects for organising national and other Federation activities and sought the suggestions of all stakeholders. Then after several debates and a marathon ‘Brainstorming Session’ of the General Council under the Chairmanship of Mr. B.B. Babu, the Federation adopted the Tournament Guidelines in 1997 thus bringing in transparency and uniformity in technical rules besides making Federation and the organisers accountable. New registration and transfer policies for players were also introduced making the system transparent and were made part of Tournament Guidelines.

When Indian players started losing to foreign players in international events, selection policy was reviewed number of times particularly in consultation with Chairman/Convenor of Selection Sub- Committee and Working Committee. After regular consultations and debates, a new selection policy for Indian Teams was introduced.

There was big misunderstanding on the duties of technical officials since they were never defined on record. To bring in transparency and accountability in technical matters, ‘Duties and Responsibilities’ of different categories of technical officials were introduced and implemented.

To improve the performance of players at international level with a sense of focussed responsibility and discipline, ‘Code of Conduct’ for players and officials for their participation at international level was introduced.

Since the Constitution of the Federation was not updated for decades, I prepared a new draft in line with latest Olympic rules, systems, tournament regulations and government guidelines. I circulated the draft and sought comments and suggestions of all affiliated units. Unfortunately, I received comments only from three State Associations i.e. Chandigarh, Bengal and Haryana. A Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Mr. S.A. Basheer of Karnataka which submitted its recommendations. After marathon debates by Working Committee and General Council in their meetings, the new Constitution of the Federation was adopted. In the new Constitution besides other new things, posts of Associate Vice-Presidents were introduced to involve bureaucrats and industrialists in carrom and new posts were created for marketing and media support.

In order to involve and increase the participation of maximum number of Secretaries possible in policy making, numbers of sub committees were increased, regular meetings were organised and their reports obtained and adopted. Their reports were included in the annual report booklets.

In order to maintain transparency and accountability of the Federation management, meetings of the Working Committee and General Council/AGM were conducted every year conscientiously.

Despite several hurdles and adversities, I succeeded in making the working of the All India Carrom Federation paperless. It became the first National Sports Federation to function with paperless working. Earlier, the Federation was communicating with all stake holders through postal letters and many times urgent communications were getting delayed or lost. Hence, a move was initiated with the support of the then President, Mr. Sarabjit Singh, DGP Punjab to make the working of the Federation paperless. After facing many hurdles and initial problems, Federation succeeded in making it more efficient through paperless working.

Nowhere ’History’ of the All India Carrom Federation was available or known to players or public. Neither they were aware about the status of the game of carrom. I accepted the challenge to compile the information and data relating to Federation for about 50 years. After consultations and meetings spread over a period of 5-6 months with founding General Secretary of the Federation, Dr. R.S. Cunnaiah; former and present players & officials and carrom enthusiasts, I penned down the history of the Federation and a brief on carrom and circulated to all units for their views. Ultimately both the papers were finalised, published and hosted on Federation website.

In an effort to modernise the working of the Federation, to bring in transparency and to bring awareness among masses, a website of the Federation was launched in July 1999 and relaunched in 2008. All important documents and information like History of the Federation, History of Carrom, Constitution (Rules & Regulations), Tournament Guidelines, Duties of technical officials and Umpires, Players’ Transfer/Registration/Selection policies, Brief on Carrom, How to play carrom, Laws of Carrom, Activity Calender of each year, Profiles of International and National Medal winners, winners of senior nationals, detailed results of all international events, informative brochure on Carrom, details of all previous and current office-bearers of Federation, list of affiliated units with their contact details, etc were hosted on the website. Most interesting and sought after data on profiles and photographs of all national and international champions from India was compiled and hosted on website. Similarly interesting records created by players in carrom were compiled by me through different sources and published on website.

A new system was introduced to wish all registered players and officials on the day of their birth through a specially printed Birthday Card signed by the Federation President, J.P. Agarwal, the then Member of Parliament and by the Federation General Secretary. I also started a new system to update members of Federation and Associations on all good and bad happenings in the families of officials and players so that they could contact those families and create a feeling of togetherness and of a family.

In an effort to propagate carrom properly at competitive level in all parts of the country, it was made obligatory for all State Associations to conduct their State Championships and District Championships regularly every year. To ensure proper compliance, Federation started deputing its Observers to State Championships. Federation also directed State Associations to conduct elections to their Associations properly and in time and made it obligatory to depute its Observers to ensure fair and transparent elections. Federation also asked them to submit their Annual Reports & Accounts to the Federation regularly.

I was able to ensure participation of about 80 to 90% affiliated units in national level events with regular and vigorous follow-up, a heartening achievement. Participation in Sub-Junior and Junior National Championships was made prerequisite for participating in Senior National Championship. In the beginning participation of girl and woman players was dismal. It proved to be one of the biggest challenges to increase their participation. I started doing my homework with the help of graphs to compare the progress made. Although it took a longer period, ultimately I succeeded in increasing their participation upto 80%. I was also able to initiate several steps to check participation of overage players and use of alcohol/drugs during National Championships.

I successfully made the accounting system of the Federation completely transparent and informative. From meagre one page Receipt & Payment Accounts, I introduced Balance Sheets in terms of accounting norms. Annual Accounts were got audited every year from the approved Auditor. In order to make accounts informative, details of all important and major expenses and incomes were included in attached schedules. Number of schedules was increased gradually. Later, for ready reference of members, comparative figures of previous and current years in Balance Sheets were included. After I took over the Federation, the financial position was not in good shape because of liabilities. Gradually, I brought the Federation to a good financial position. I succeeded in maintaining the accounting systems and in improving it regularly with the support of Treasurers, Bharat Bhushan who officiated with me for one term and Khurshid Khan who served with me for three terms.

I also started filing regularly annual Income Tax Returns of the Federation with the concerned authorities. To attract sponsors, I also got the Federation registered under Section 80G and 12A of Income Tax Act.Besides, I also obtained PAN number of the Federation. These steps increased the accountability level of the Federation.

After I relinquished my charge of the Federation in 2012, some jealous people made false complaints to the Income Tax department. The Income Tax authorities ordered for ‘scrutiny’ of Annual Accounts of the Federation for two years i.e. 2010-11 and 2011-12. They scrutinised all transactions in detail and verified several documents but ultimately cleared and approved the accounts as truthful.

I started preparing comprehensive Annual Reports of the Federation covering all activities with all details, data and photographs of all events and Federation meetings, international events, umpire exams and vital decisions taken by the Federation, promotional measures, achievements during the year under report, etc with complete results of all activities in Annexures. Annual Reports and Audited Annual Accounts were presented to Working Committee for its consideration and then for consideration and approval by the General Council in its meetings every year regularly.

To bring in transparency and accountability, we made the Federation compliant to Right to Information Act and amended the Federation Constitution as required under National Sports Development Code.

I ensured conduct of examinations for empanelment of National Umpires every year through Umpires’ Sub-Committee during Junior and Sub-Junior National Championships. I also conducted examination for empanelment of International Umpires in India in 1996, 2006 and 2013 besides deputing one candidate from India for International Examination to UK in 1997. I also introduced and conducted good number of Workshops for prospective Umpires and Refresher Clinics for qualified National Umpires during different national championships organised during my tenure. Exams, Workshops and Clinics were mainly supported by P. Raveendran and S. Udaya Kumar in an exemplary manner.

I created a new category of ‘Referees’ with senior and experienced Umpires. I started conducting examinations for empanelment of National Referees through Referees Sub-Committee. Only qualified National Umpires with three years experience were eligible to appear in the examination. Only National Referees were posted as technical and desk officials for various national and international events. We started conducting Workshops for Referees with unique subjects of Mental and Physical fatigue, crisis and time management, draws, duties of desk officials and proper maintenance of tournament records, etc.

Prestigious Arjuna Award, a National Sports Award was bestowed in 1997 on A. Maria Irudayam two times World Carrom Champion and nine times National Carrom Champion.

On winning World Carrom Championship held at Cannes, France in 2008, President of India felicitated Indian Carrom Team in Rashtrapati Bhavan.


Speaker of Lok Sabha, Mrs. Meira Kumar offered felicitation to Indian Carrom Team in Lok Sabha on their winning all possible Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals in 14th SAARC Championship held in Maldives in 2010.

Mr. J.P. Agarwal, Member of Parliament and President of the Federation along with few other MPs felicitated Indian Carrom Team in Sansad Bhavan (Indian Parliament) in 2009 on their winning World Championship and other international Events.


The Federation also conducted its Working Committee and General Council meetings in Parliament House in 2009.

Indian Carrom Team was felicitated by Lord Swaraj Paul and few other MPs in British Parliament.

The game of Carrom and the Federation was recognised by Indian Olympic Association in 1998.

I could succeed in making carrom the first sport to have its professional league ‘World Series of Carrom’. ESPN Star Sports shot 15 episodes of WSC in 2006 in a film Studio at Noida. I was instrumental in framing new Rules, designing and arranging coloured equipments, selecting 16 players from 11 countries and umpires. The first ever Carrom League carried a cash prize of Rs.10 lakhs.

Carrom was recognised by the School Games Federation of India for the first time in 1998. It was also recognised and included in annual Sports Calendar by Central Board of Secondary Education in 2010 and followed by Indian Certificate of Secondary Education.

After vigorous follow up, I could succeed in getting Pension for a poor Veteran National Champion from Karnataka, Loknath from the Government of India in 1998.

I could get the formal invitation extended by Union Ministry of MY & Sports to two carrom world champions from India, A. Maria Irudayam and S. Appoorwa in Queen’s Baton Relay 2005, a curtain raiser for Commonwealth Games 2006. Once again some players and officials from various States participated in Queen’s Baton Relay for 2010 Games at New Delhi.

Click here to see complete list of Accomplishments at a glance.

In an effort to popularise carrom in every nook & corner of the country and to generate interest among the populace of the regions hitherto neglected, I conducted national/zonal activities in more than 30 new cities of Shillong, Srinagar, Patna, Pondicherry, Indore, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ongole, Bhopal, Jalandhar, Vadodara, Deoghar, Shimla, Dehradun, Akola, Visakhapatnam, Korba, Siliguri, Gwalior, Barauni, Salem, Raipur, Alibaugh, Varanasi, Hooghly, Kolkata, Ramagundam, Cochin, Ranchi, Coimbatore, Barnala and Meerut besides reviving it at Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Goa, Vadodara and Bangalore.

In another effort to propagate carrom in all parts of the country, during my tenure Federation affiliated 6 new State Associations of Andaman & Nicobar, Nagaland, Uttranchal, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. But unfortunately due to geographical and financial constraints Nagaland and Andaman & Nicobar could not maintain their affiliation. I also affiliated 14 new Institutions - Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Jain Irrigation, BSNL, Indian Medical Association, Defence Accounts, Indian Audit & Accounts Department, Oriental Insurance, United India, Major Ports, Postal Department, All India Electricity Board, NABARD and Petroleum Sports Board as a result of which most of these Institutions recruited carrom players under sports quota. Federation later disaffiliated Indian Medical Association and three other old and inactive units of All India State Road Transport Undertaking, Ordnance Factories Sports Board and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.

I made persistent but successful efforts particularly with affiliated Associate Members and other Government departments/PSUs for recruitment of carrom players under sports quota and for scholarships to underage players.

In an effort to further promote the game of carrom by bringing awareness about the rising status of carrom, I designed and created a brochure/flier and circulated 10,000 copies in schools, colleges, institutions, libraries, promoters, guests and directly to public and through Associations with big success.

To update regularly the whole carrom fraternity etc, a bimonthly news magazine ‘The Carrom Express’ was designed and introduced. It carried information on carrom activities at national, international and state levels, meetings and policy decisions. It was being produced and edited by me single handedly. Copies of the news magazine were sent to various libraries, Ministries, Schools & Colleges, institutions, NGOs, State/ District Associations, Clubs and Federations of other countries for their information and publicity. Due to non-cooperation of units for not supplying required data in time, news magazine was discontinued unfortunately.

I succeeded in getting the final matches of Junior National held at Faridabad in 2002 telecast ‘live’ by Doordarshan. It still remains the only National Championship telecast live on national TV network. Earlier, I was able to get the World Championship held at Delhi in 2000 covered live by Doordarshan. However, Doordarshan covered number of other international and national events and telecast recorded capsules.

I could get big number of carrom events covered appropriately by electronic media in the shape of stories and news items. Prominent among them were 9 stories on carrom events by Rajat Sharma in his ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ programme; a comparative story of Indian carrom players on ZEE News comparing victory of Carrom World Cup by Indian players without any importance while Indian Cricket team despite losing one day series 5-0 against New Zealand was making news; an exclusive story on carrom by World Television Network released in 50 countries; repeat interviews on BBC London and Zee TV Europe, German National TV and Radio network and on FM channels. Exclusive carrom stories were telecast on NDTV, Aaj Tak, Star Plus, Star News, Zee News, various ETV channels, IBN, Enadu, News18 Network, DD National, DD Sports, DD (Regional languages), etc. Print Media also covered carrom with full page stories. I also hired some media professionals for media coverage on many occasions. But still a lot remained to be done to create awareness among masses at the desired level about the status of carrom. This is the issue on which I never felt satisfied despite making all possible efforts. Still, after Media started giving good media coverage to carrom, Federation succeeded in getting sponsorships for its events.

I arranged good number of Press Conferences addressed by Presidents of the Federation, various other senior officials of the Federation, hosts of the national events and myself in different parts of the country regularly during my journey.

I organised a national carrom championship in 2012 for the first time in a Shopping Mall at prime location of Gurgaon i.e. MGF Metropolis Mall, M.G. Road, Gurgaon. It was the only national championship with unique publicity i.e. 5 lakh sms, 5 lakh emails, hoardings on key/prime location of the city and on main MG Road and a biggest ever carrom hoarding on top of the Mall for 10 days which was easily visible to lakhs of daily metro commuters.

In association with ESPN Star Sports successfully completed an experimental TV show “King of Carrom” with innovative ideas and new rules, a pilot project for first sporting league ‘World Series of Carrom’.


To promote carrom at various levels, carrom demonstrations were made at General Assembly of Olympic Council of Asia at New Delhi, London Commonwealth Games and Athens Olympics with the support of late Krishan K. Sharma and B.B. Babu.

I through local agencies also organised special Carrom League for UAE people and visitors at Dubai during Shopping Festival.

Carrom was demonstrated in fairs and festivals, schools and shopping malls of Germany and UK through Arif Naqvi and late Krishan Sharma.

In an effort to popularise carrom among college students, I made World Champions to demonstrate twice intricacies of carrom in Goa campus of BITS Pilani during their sports festival.

In association with NIIT Yuva Star I organized free carrom workshops and training programmes for downtrodden children and youngsters belonging to slum areas of Noida (U.P.) in 2009.

I also associated myself with an NGO of international repute for giving training and organising carrom competitions exclusively for children from down trodden families and slum areas.

To popularise carrom at grass root level in Haryana, I completely focussed on introducing and involving school children in carrom by organising Workshops, small training programmes and Inter-class and Inter-branches carrom tournaments.

In order to give a source of entertainment and to inculcate the spirit of competition among differently abled people, I developed carrom equipments specifically for blinds and organised several competitions with prize money exclusively for them. Similarly, I organised several tournaments for Deaf & Dumb children in their Schools and Colleges and presented them carrom equipments for practice.

Special events and training programmes were organised in Apollo Hospital for doctors, Jail, corporate sector companies, courts for advocates and Press Club for news reporters.

To get attention of general public and media, I succeeded through different State officials and friends, in bringing cinema and sports celebrities like Nana Patekar, Gagan Narang, Hans Raj Hans, Reema Lagoo, Sandeep Patil, Eknath Solkar, Rohit Sharma and various famous cinema and TV personalities to various national and international events.

International Carrom Federation through late Krishan attracted the attention of media and public by making Prince Charles of UK to play carrom.

To bring awareness about the game of carrom among masses specially among young students and their parents, exclusive carrom shows/Quiz programmes were organised.

On completion of 50 years of the Federation on 4th March 2006, I took initiative to celebrate the Golden Jubile in a spectacular manner. First of all, to mark the occasion I invited Sri Lankan National Team for a Test Series. The first Indo Sri Lanka Test Match was played at Pragati Maidan and was inaugurated by J.P. Agarwal, MP. The Test Match was preceded by a special Press Conference addressed by Sarabjit Singh, IPS, President of the Federation.

The Golden Jubilee celebrations were organised in the lawns of prestigious Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The celebratory function was graced by Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Union Minister; Mr. M.A.A. Fatimi, Union Minister of State; Mr. J.P. Agarwal, M.P.; Mr. Abdul Rashid Shaheen, M.P. and Mr. Sarabjit Singh, DGP Punjab. Awards and felicitations were made in a musical evening after release of balloons & pigeons and ten minutes firework. The arrangements and decoration were unprecedented in carrom history. All international carrom champions from India, all national champions, former and present Office-bearers & State Secretaries were invited and honoured. The main attraction was felicitation of founding General Secretary of the All India Carrom Federation, Dr. R.S. Cunnaiah. All awardees were presented wooden mementos created in the shape of Golden Jubilee logo, a shawl, silk garland, rose flowers with simultaneous display of their profiles on big screen. A special carrom song written by Arif Naqvi was also played live. We also had prize distribution function of Indo-Sri Lanka Test Series. The function was followed by gala dinner and live music.

As part of year long celebrations, Carrom World Cup was organised from 17th to 21st November 2006 in a five star hotel in Delhi where Special Golden Jubilee Awards were presented to players and officials. Those Awards included Carrom Ratna to Maria Irudayam; Pride of Carrom to P.Nirmala and Nagsen Etambe; Carrom Jewel to M. Nataraj and Suhas Kambli; Carrom Pearl to Rashmi Kumari and Aarti Jobanputra; Carrom Dron to Arun Deshpande and Carrom Smrat posthumously to Ashok Sharma besides several Awards to other officials. Shan-e-Carrom Awards were presented to office-bearers & State Secretaries of the All India Carrom Federation and International Carrom Federation for their contribution to carrom. These awards were presented by Gagan Narang, an international Shooter; J.P. Agarwal, MP and Ratan Singh, IRS, Addl Commissioner Income Tax in a musical evening by professional TV and film artists in Grand Ball Room of a five star resort.

Then all former senior national champions were felicitated on 23rd March 2007 at Kolkata during Senior National Championship to conclude the Golden Jubilee celebrations. Specially designed Golden Jubilee mementos were presented by Sarabjit Singh, IPS, DGP Punjab and President of the Federation in a musical evening followed by gala dinner. This function was arranged and supported by Abul Hasnat and Pinto Mukherjee.

To mark the occasion, affiliated State Associations also conducted Special Golden Jubilee Carrom Tournaments in their States as per directions issued by the Federation.

On completion of 25 years of the International Carrom Federation, I organized Silver Jubilee celebrations in a four star hotel at Gurgaon in October 2013. The celebrations included an international ‘Champion of Champions’ tournament and Indo-Sri Lanka Test Series for Junior players, a special International Carrom Award night with best ever musical evening in carrom. During celebrations all National Federations affiliated to ICF, former and current Office- bearers of ICF, carrom promoters were felicitated with silk garlands and special Silver Jubilee Memento for their contribution to carrom. Arif Naqvi showed on large screen a special ‘play’ written by him on carrom and played & recorded in Argentina. A video of carrom song written by him was played on large screen. B. Bangaru Babu who was main recipient of Silver Jubilee Award fell seriously ill on his way from Chennai to Gurgaon and hence was presented the Award later in hospital. The celebration was graced by Raja Randhir Singh, Secretary General, Olympic Council of Asia; Mr. Anil Shastri, son of former PM of India; Mr. Ratan Singh, Addl Commissioner of Income tax; Mr. Kishore Kumar, IG Police Andhra, Mr. M.K. Gandhi and Mr. Arif Naqvi, President ICF. Participants were presented with specially designed Silver Jubilee mementos of Mugs, Strikers, Neckties and T-shirts. The musical and dance show by professionals was the best in carrom history. The function was followed by gala dinner.

Most of TV channels did not find carrom an appropriate sport for telecast on TV because of rules and colours of equipments. Carrom matches of two best players were consuming about 2 hours to complete which was a major constraint for electronic media. Secondly, there was no attraction in playing rules which could bind spectators to watch carrom matches with thrill and excitement. The current colours of carrom equipments failed to attract Media and TV audience because of poor visual effects on television. Therefore, Electronic Media wanted Carrom Boards with different colours and design. Keeping in view such a feedback, I developed sky blue carrom boards and used them for 3rd World Carrom Championship 2000 which was covered live by Doordarshan. Then a different soft colour was experimented in World Series of Carrom. Later I developed Carrom Boards with new colours and carrommen. I with the help of Krishan Sharma got special carrom boards manufactured in 8 different colours and displayed them in an international tournament in UK.

I proposed a shorter version of carrom which was to be adopted in addition to existing version as per Laws of Carrom. The proposal was considered by Technical Sub-Committee in its several meetings and by Working Committee. It was followed by an experimental tournament ‘Champion of Champions’ held at New Delhi on league-cum-knockout basis. On successful experiment, the next Senior National Championship was organised at Guwahati in 2010 with shorter version on the basis of best of three sets of four boards each, 10 seconds for stroke, etc. My idea was not to replace the existing version but to adopt shorter version in addition to existing version. But the Council decided to go back to older system without any change in equipments and colours. It was a major setback not only for me but for carrom since mostly all other sports like Volley Ball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Cricket, Hockey, Basketball, etc had adopted many innovative changes in equipments & rules and ultimately succeeded in promoting their sports effectively. However, I could manage to implement certain innovative and useful changes in rules like reporting time, walk-over time, time limit for strokes and placing penalties/dues, reduction of time between 2nd and 3rd sets, etc in all national activities and six board limit for junior and sub-junior players.

Innovation in equipments and rules could have taken this game to masses and helped in propagating it appropriately. But in the absence of such a transition carrom could not reach the desired level like other sports. Things are changing in the world at a faster pace and sports are also required to become agile and adaptive to the changes to keep up and stay relevant. Mostly all sports changed with the times and adopted several innovative ideas in their equipments and rules, thus, successfully developed their sports. But I regret due to our reluctance to accept changes we could not take carrom at par with other sports.

After discussing with experts of sports sciences, I found that physical and mental fitness had big impact on players of all sports including carrom. Unfortunately it was not being given any importance by carrom players. I also noticed India could rarely produce any senior national champion above the age of 45/50 years. Senior players could never realize they could improve their skill by increasing their physical & mental fitness levels, having a different diet, improving their concentration level and following concept of killing instinct. In fact, players were competing on the basis of their natural talent and by following the skill of senior players. Most importantly, carrom players did not know how to improve further their performance to win matches and titles after they reached peak in their skill levels. They did not have any knowledge that carrom was based on physics and geometry and they could improve further through scientific training and by following proper playing techniques. Initially I could find only Raja Bather whose training was based to some extent on science. But I found the most appropriate scientific trainer in Arun Deshpande, a former National Champion. He was a student of science and was well aware of physics and geometry aspects. After discussing with him we introduced in all coaching camps and training programs several physical exercises, early morning walks, diets as advised by dieticians so that players remain fit and active, Yoga and meditation and sports psychology particularly killing instinct and achieved excellent results. Yoga was introduced for the first time in a Coaching Camp held at Kolkata in 2003 for preparing Indian team for SAARC Championship held in Bangladesh. To introduce yoga in an appropriate manner to make it relevant to carrom, we utilized the services of professional yoga trainers like Rakhi of Kolkata in many Camps and national fame Yoga instructor, Acharya Vikramaditya in 2006. Yoga, stretching exercises, diet, meditation, music, scientific training, mental fitness, improving concentration, etc benefitted Indian players in a big way.

I experimented and started ‘mentoring’ top Indian carrom players before and during international competitions. It gave amazing results and I was successful in bringing them out from anxiety, depression and stress, infusing confidence in them. I successfully guided them how to enhance their concentration and focus using killing instinct as a tool. I was showing them short inspirational movies also before their matches making them to perform with the same mood and confidence. These steps were introduced only after consulting experts in sports sciences and deep study in sports psychology.

Besides, I made some research work on how the game of carrom could help school students in enhancing their concentration and cognitive skills and ultimately in their studies. During my hundreds of visits to various schools I found that carrom was helping school students in many ways. Players who were playing carrom with good interest at various levels achieved 85% to 95% marks in their annual examinations. The fact that top shooters, archers, cricketers and religious gurus were using carrom as an instrument for enhancing their concentration levels before exposure in international and other competitions. I explained and convinced Principals, teachers and parents on these aspects. I also compared the performance of players & teams and tried to check the quality of equipments through graphs.

My carrom journey was full of challenges, obstacles and struggles. In fact these are part of everybody’s lives. Similarly, when we involve ourselves in sports with passion, struggles are much harder. I was taught - struggle to overcome difficulties is the pre-condition for growth. What’s freaking awesome, though, is when you overcome it. When you get to the top of the mountain you realize there is another one that is just as hard to climb and it is even higher. That is exactly what happened to me. Once I reached on the top of the mountain by overcoming an obstacle, I was made to face another obstacle or a challenge and I realized that it was more difficult to climb higher and steep. During my carrom journey, I faced number of obstacles, difficulties and challenges one after the other. Within 50 days of my taking over the Federation, I was thrown a challenge to conduct the 2nd Indo-German Test Match on 2nd March 1995 at Lucknow within 5-6 days after the host backed out at the last minute. I was to arrange sponsorship, book hotels, venue, equipments, food and transport for two national teams and senior officials. The Test Match concluded successfully. Within 20 days of overcoming first hurdle by successfully conducting the Test Match as per schedule, I was served with a restraint order from Court asking me not to organize the Senior National Championship at Faridabad. When I went ahead to organize the National Championship as per legal advice, some miscreants razed Carrom Boards with swords and threatened me. Despite restraint orders, zero sponsorship and life threats I completed the first Senior National Championship of my journey successfully. It was followed by another hurdle. Within 10 days, I was served with another Court order asking me not to organize Junior National Championship at Indore. I crossed that hurdle too by not only completing very successfully the Junior National Championship but also the Annual Calendar of AICF for 1994-95. I crossed all those hurdles with the support of my colleagues. The scenes of hurdle races strike my mind whenever I remember various obstacles created by Mudgal and others. Obstacles are like hurdle races. When we are in hurdle race and see a barrier approaching, we quicken our pace and with our entire strength we jump over it. That is what exactly happened and with some courage I could overcome all those hurdles in a similar manner.

But that, in fact, was beginning of troubles and obstacles. Such adversities and hurdles continued during my journey. I was assaulted physically, my family received several life threatening calls, a planned move for a coup in Federation was attempted at Chandigarh, several complaints were made to my office on created and flimsy grounds and I had to work with severe financial constraints and liabilities. They made repeated false and unsubstantiated complaints to Vigilance department of my office for my misusing office equipments, stationery and time for carrom work. After failing in every move my opponents did not leave me even after I relinquished my charge of the Federation. Just before my retirement, they made another attempt by sending fresh complaint to Vigilance Department for my making foreign tours without requisite permission and wrongly availing Special Leave besides levelling allegations at personal level. But to their shock vigilance department could not find anything wrong and exonerated me from all allegations. They also approached Income Tax Department by making frivolous and false complaints with regard to my income and owning a house in Gurgaon. Income Tax authorities scrutinised all banking transactions, sought details and verified all possible documents but to the jolt of opponents Income Tax authorities after their detailed scrutiny did not find anything wrong or improper and issued orders in my faour.

When I joined Federation in 1995, it had a good office with 4 rooms in IG Stadium, New Delhi. But within 5-6 years of my taking over the charge of the Federation, Sports Authority of India asked all national federations including Carrom Federation to vacate the office for renovating Stadiums for Commonwealth Games. I shifted Federation office to my two bed room flat in Delhi where I was living with my family. I managed the Federation office in my flat for about 10 years without charging any rent or electricity. After whole balcony of my flat got occupied with Federation records and other items, I used cupboards of both the bed rooms of my flat for safe keeping of important records. The computer table was also installed in my bed room. During my whole tenure, I used my own table, computer, laptop, printer and electricity for Federation work. I hosted many Federation officials/State Secretaries in the same flat and at my Faridabad home to avoid wastage of resources and time.

When I took over the charge of the Federation, there was no mobile, no internet, no STD/ISD facility and no computer. For interacting with Federation officials and State Secretaries I used to book trunk calls which were not materialising many times. Since trunk call charges were more than double during normal working hours, I was making trunk calls after 9 pm. For official correspondence I had to use manual typewriter followed by electronic typewriter, computer and laptop. For issuing photographs of final matches and functions to the print media, we had to make special arrangements for urgent printouts to circulate with press release in a time bound manner. We did not have the support of social media. Now we could perform more efficiently with laptop, internet, mobile phones, mobile cameras and use social media for effective publicity. The Government appointed Assistant Secretary, M. Sharan was reporting to me in MMTC office or camp office at my residence. Many times he was staying at my residence and both of us were working upto 2-3 AM in the nights. Sharan was either working from his home or from my home. Federation had no vehicle and hence I was going to Ministries, SAI, Olympic office, offices of sponsors, offices of Federation Presidents’, on my scooter or auto rickshaw and later in my car. I never charged the Federation air fare or train fare for attending meetings of the International Carrom Federation, Asian Carrom Confederation and the All India Carrom Federation held either abroad or in different parts of India.

During my journey in Federation, I was made to contest number of court cases. When I joined the Federation as General Secretary in 1995, Federation had to face court case filed by R.K. Mudgal and when I handed over the charge in 2012, Federation faced court case filed by V.D. Narayan. I was made to make periodical attendance to courts including at Mumbai to defend the cases filed against the Federation by R.K. Mudgal, R. Ejilane, Arun Kedar and Ms Nalini Bolinjkar. It disturbed our rhythm and equilibrium. These cases adversely affected the financial position of the Federation besides causing obstruction in the fast moving activities. But I ensured that such undesirable events did not dampen our spirits and hamper Federation activities. The interesting fact was that the Federation did not lose any of those legal cases. There were many more obstructions created by some aspiring and jealous people who do not deserve any mention here.

The biggest challenge was to raise the image of carrom. This game was treated poor’s man game or a game for slum dwellers. Slowly but steadily it reached to Indian Parliament, British Parliament, President House; carrom players became stars on TV; poor players started getting pension and good jobs in PSUs/Government offices under sports quota; young children started getting scholarships; doctors specially cardiologists and psychiatrists, Chartered Accountants, Advocates, Architects, businessmen of repute started playing carrom and participated in competitions; carrom competitions from streets reached to five star hotels, national events organised in prestigious stadiums and other air conditioned venues; 15 episode first ever sporting prize money international league on carrom was telecast by ESPN/Star Sports; India’s major TV broadcaster telecast live final matches of international and national events; carrom players got prestigious National Sports Award viz. Arjuna Award, State Sports Awards, big cash Awards from State Governments & PSUs; carrom received recognition from Indian Olympic Association, State Sports Councils, CBSE, School Games Federation of India, CBSE/ICSE; carrom players started getting preferential admissions and it reached to all parts of the country particularly North Eastern States and Andaman Nicobar Islands. Through such measures, we succeeded in enhancing the image of carrom to a considerable level but still a lot remained to be done.

All obstacles and problems were overcome successfully. I was able to improve the financial position of the Federation considerably bringing all major liabilities to zero. Till 90s only one or two nationals were being held but we succeeded in organising 11 national/zonal events every year that too regularly with three national ranking events, coaching camps and participation in international events every year. It was never-ending pursuit of success that keeps us alive and makes us human.

Up until four years ago, I lived my life in a constant struggle. I still do but I also see the beauty and gift that came out of that struggle. I am grateful for all my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those which were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties.

I was conferred two National level AWARDS - Great Achievers Award and Shining Diamond Award by different social organisations for my outstanding individual achievements and distinguished services. I was also conferred various Awards like ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ and Shan-e-Carrom Award by the Federation besides several other felicitations and Awards by different Associations in appreciation of my contribution to carrom.

After Union Ministry of Sports applied National Sports Development Code on all national sports federations in 2011, I, after competing my fourth term, relinquished the charge of General Secretary of the All India Carrom Federation on 22nd July 2012. However, I was elected unopposed Executive President of the Federation in 2012. In order to give respect and to bring in Rakibul Hussain as President and Neeraj Sampathy as Assistant General Secretary in the Asian Carrom Confederation, I decided not to contest for any position and relinquished my charge of Treasurer in ACC on 14th September 2014. I succeeded in a major breakthrough to get the consent of an Indian businessman with annual turnover of about Rs.900 crores to be the next President of the International Carrom Federation. Since both the President and the Secretary General could not be from the same country, I, in my presentation to Board of Management of ICF announced to relinquish my post of the Secretary General for somebody from Europe. I also informed that the prospective President had agreed to sponsor regularly professional Carrom League on the lines of IPL and to extend financial support to national federations every year and for each international activity. But some aspiring and greedy people particularly some Indian officials conspired and destroyed the great future prospects of carrom and the international federation. In any case I had already announced in formal meetings not to contest any election both in the Asian Carrom Confederation and the International Carrom Federation. Therefore, in view of undesired politics by some people to capture some positions, I dropped the idea of bringing that person to ICF and relinquished the charge of Secretary General of the International Carrom Federation on 15th January 2015 under forced circumstances. Although I am continuing in Haryana Carrom Association for some time, I have already renounced my positions at all other levels.

When I look back at my carrom journey, I can feel a tremendous sense of pride and happiness. So do my family and friends. I feel satisfied to realize that I kept going despite all odds. The best part of my successful working was the adulation and recognition I received from my carrom friends. When I recall struggles of my journey I realize that the time was not so bad, after all. It was an exciting journey of remarkable achievements and fulfilment. The period of my journey was challenging and productive. I passed several notable milestones improving consistently on many fronts with innovative approach.

My whole journey was governed by passion simple but strong, achieving in the process moments of pride and satisfaction for carrom fraternity. In addition to passion it was perseverance which helped me to succeed. Luck, good mentors and dedicated support of Federation officials, State Secretaries and family played a massive role in making my journey satisfying and a pleasant experience.

Life is eternal, and through our hardships and our losses, we can begin to appreciate the beauty of our strength and love. We may not always like them but they are what they are, a blessing that changes our lives in a very significant way. I was lucky to have the blessing of some divine force which walked besides me and guided me to stay focused, mindful and attuned to the intuitive senses I was blessed with. Many times, it was divine intervention which helped me to achieve what was needed when it was needed. I owe my success and growth to that divine force.

I have expressed my grateful thanks to all my seniors, colleagues, friends, family members and others who all supported me in performing my journey, on a separate page Acknowledgements.