Federationsions

(All Carrom Federations are invited to utilize this page and introduce themselves. If you want to appear on this page as an active federation, please send us your reports of activities)

Mail from the President of UPCA

Arif,

I wanted very much to be at Cannes and meet all of you people but unfortunately personal matter took me to India for 3 weeks during that time. I just got back and trying to get back into swing of things. I saw your email to Shreenivas. USCA is very much interested in working with ICF in the quest of promoting Carrom World wide. We definitely want to be part of the BOM. We do have some ideas and thoughts that we would like to share and discuss.

We are in the process of finalizing our executive committee. The committee would consist of an Executive Board and 6 Directors. The Executive Board consists of the President (M. Subbiah), the Vice-President ( Hari Venkatesan ) and General Secretary/Treasurer (Ravi Ravichandran). The 6 Directors are Director of Membership, Director of Regional Affairs, Director of Tournament Operations, Director of Technical Rules and Regulations, Director of Marketing, Promotion, and Public Relations, and Director of Communications. The idea is to collaborate at the local level and National level with uniform policy and promote the game of Carrom. I have a vision as a President; working with the executive committee we would solidify a collective vision for USCA, both long term and short term. We would come up with a mission to carry out that vision again both long term and short term. I am happy to inform that Atul Bhave , Balaji Pathasarathy, Jayadev Suryadevara, Neil Khatu , Nilesh Mehata, and Vikas Hawaldar have agreed to serve in the committee as Directors for 2008-2009. I will let you know the distribution of the portfolio soon.

We are planning to have our first meeting in the first week of March. The top item in the Agenda is to discuss and decide the Tournaments for 2008 and 2009. Apart from that we have lots of plans and ideas

Davis Cup Style Regional Test Matches.
We have ideas of placing Carrom Boards in University Commons , High Schools, Sports Bars, Churches, and Corporations. We would do a boiler plate work shop for them to get them started.
Conduct a work-shop and Tournament for Telugu Association of North America Conference 2009 and other Associations.
Have plans on “Draft a Neighbor Champaign”, where at least eight of us get 2-4 interested neighbors (new to the game), train and coach them through out the year and have a grand finale tournament for them with prize money. This will be done at the Local level and the top 2 would go to the National Level.
Conduct World Cup in 2010
Have representation in International Tournaments
Collaborate with other organization World wide in promoting the game of Carrom

We need to plan and decide what we want to do and when. I hope this gives you an idea of our plans. We will pass on specifics as it develops. We would also like to hear ICF’s plan for the near future and beyond. Hope to hear from you soon,

M. Subbiah

The ICF extends heartfelt Congratulations to newly elected office bearers of the CFL and wish them much sucess.

The Italian carrom championship begins each year in September and ends in June. In 2005/2006 11 tournaments were held in Rome - 7 official rounds of regional championship, two open doubles events and two Final events valid for the title of Italian Champion. In Milan 7 rounds of regional events were held including the International Milan Open with participation of players from all over Italy and this year also from Barcelona. In Rovereto 7 regional tournaments were held. So 25 events were held all together under the auspices of FIC. On the promotional front several activites took place in 2006. Caracol Carrom Club of Rome set up a stand for 20 days during the course of a poular fair in one of the capital's central parks. FIC supplied them with 10 carrom boards which were permanently set up and used every day by the visitors. This was very enthusiastically received and also gave the organizing club new impetus to continue their carrom activities. Carrom Club Milano for the 2nd year set up a carrom stand in the historic centre of Verona during a games festival. This was also a big success. They also hosted the annual Milan Open which gives the opportunity for a lot of public to watch a carrom tournament as it is held during an international games festival. Gianluca Cristiani, Italian champion 2005-2006, continues to organize a term time tournament for the students of Ambrit International School of Rome. He also takes carrom boards on school trips to occupy the students during the evenings. The Sri Lankan Carrom Masters Club of Rome organized their annual Sri Lanka Doubles Cup which always draws very many new players and is an excellent occasion to introduce newly arrived Sri Lankans to the carrom community of Rome, meet new people and exchange experiences. In the Summer FIC was happy to welcome Arun Deshpande and his wife Anjali to Rome where training sessions were held every day and night to perfect the skills of carrom players. Demonstration games were also held. On an international level in 2006 Italian carrom players took part in the carrom weekend in Darmstadt, in the Eurocup in St Rome de Dolan and in the World Cup in New Delhi. For 2006/2007 regional tournaments are taking place and the programme is similar to last season. An additional Open Doubles event is planned for 15th April in Rome which we hope will draw in many begginers who don't yet feel confident to join in the regular singles tournaments. The final event will be held on 2nd and 3rd of June where top 20 Italian players will play a swiss system event followed by top 8 all playing each other while others play a friendly doubles which will also be open to all players from any country.

Historically speaking, Japanese people are very familiar with board games played by hitting a striker with the finger. In the Syoso-in treasure house, collection of treasures of 8th century Emperor, there is board game called gDangih. Dangi was imported from China and was played by striking black and white coins. It is a variant of other board games popular in Japan called gGoh and gShogih, but with no pockets, and is believed to be the roots of carrom by some historians.

It is claimed that carrom came to Japan from North America during 1910-1930. In 1930fs, small colorful American style carromboards were very common in Japan. After that, carrom popularity came down for a while but in 1960-70fs it once again soared to new heights. Big toy companies also started making carrom boards. How popular carrom became can be guessed by the fact that big department stores in Japan also started to sell the carrom boards. An interesting fact about this board is that, in 1956, it was taken to the Japanese Station in Antarctica (Syowa Station) aboard the Antarctic Research Ship. Till today, after around 50 years, this carrom is still played on the Syowa Station and is referred to as gNankyoku Carromh (Antarctic Carrom).

There is another type of carrom that spread in Shiga prefecture, close to Kyoto. It is not clear where it came from but it is still played in some places around Hikone city and is called gCaromh. Our carrom friend, Mr. David MacCrellish from USA assures us that same type of carrom boards exist in Canada even today.

In 1997, Masaki Sugihara (Editor), Makito Minami (National Museum of Ethnology) and I, Hiro Shibano (National Institute of Polar Research), came together and wrote a book titled gCarom Roadh. This was the first book published in Japan on carrom. Sugihara is well versed with Hikone carom, Minami knows Nepalese carrom well and I am familiar to Nankyoku carrom. Bringing so many different perspectives together, this book was very well received among carrom fans. Minami, who is a researcher by profession, employed the scientific techniques to investigate the roots of carrom from ancient literature about toys and games.

During this research for the roots of carrom, they had a chance meeting with the ICF, result of which was the creation of the Japan Carrom Federation by Sugihara.

The JCF was headquartered at Hikone city till the middle of 2001 after which it shifted to Tokyo. It grew up to have an official website to share new developments and for promotion too. Cooperation with other game and sports organizations in Japan is also increasing gradually. From June 2002 onwards, we have started having a carrom party once a month for members of the JCF and all other carrom lovers to come, play carrom and exchange ideas with each other.

From 2003, Sandeep Jindal, an Indian national living in Japan, has joined us as technical advisor. With his help, we hope to strengthen the JCF as well as to increase our skill level.

In the last, we at the JCF will continue to support the ICF and actively participate in all its endeavors. With cooperation from other carrom federations, we will make every effort for increasing our skills and becoming good players of carrom.