In a rare show of unity in sporting circles, Andhra Carrom Association and Hyderabad Carrom Association join hands to ensure unanimous election for all posts

He was not born when the All-India Carrom Federation was formed back in 1956. But, 47-year-old Dr. Neeraj Sampathy has achieved the rare distinction of becoming the first-ever Telugu speaking official to head the national sports body, on Sunday.

Nothing could have been more symbolic than one of the founder-members of the AICF, 75-year-old omnipresent B.K. Haranath, ensuring that there are no more hiccups in handing over the baton to Dr. Sampathy, who himself is a passionate carom player besides being an enterprising president of Andhra Carrom Association.

Ironically, despite his vast experience and major contribution to promoting the sport, Mr. Haranath has never headed the AICF. In the new setup too, he was given the post of director (media), as he is known to be adept in handling the media.

And, in a rare show of unity in sporting circles, both Andhra Carrom Association and the Hyderabad Carrom Association joined hands as part of the process to ensure the unanimous election for all the posts at the AGM here. Consequently, S. Madan Raj, secretary of Hyderabad Carrom Association, will be the treasurer.

The new AICF chief says that every effort would be made to see that carrom, which is in Group C in terms of sports discipline priority list – both at the State and the Central-level, gains a place in Group A.

“The only way out is to popularise the sport hosting more events – national and international – to produce more champions,” Dr. Sampathy remarked. “With the School Games Federation of India already including carrom in its curriculum, we will try our best to see that it is introduced at the university level too,” he said.

We will try our best to introduce carom at the university level. Dr. Neeraj Sampathypresident, AICF

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V.Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – May 16th, 2016