Maldives takes initiative in Asian Carrom Championship after 10 year pause

The Asian Carrom Championship, which has been on hiatus for 10 years, will be held in Male' in April.

The last Asian carrom tournament took place in Kolkata, India, in 2013. Since then, the tournament has been on hold.

Sports Minister Abdulla Rafiu announced today that the Maldives Carrom Association took the initiative to plan and restart the tournament. As a result, the Asian Carrom Federation has allowed the resumption of the tournament in the Maldives, the Minister said. The Maldives has previously hosted the Carrom World Cup.

According to Maldives Carrom Association Secretary General Hussain Raushaan, the tournament, scheduled to begin on April 27 will bring together more than 100 delegates from 12 countries where carrom is popular in Asia.

The five-day tournament will be held in the indoor hall of the Social Centre. Raushaan mentioned that the Social Centre hall meets the standards of the ACF. Additionally, he said that the carrom community and family members of players will also be able to watch the matches at the location.

Raushaan stated that the Maldives has collaborated with the ACF to ensure that tournaments proceed without interruption. They have also worked with the ACF to determine the host countries for the next five years.

“The Asian Federation meeting [for the congress] which will be held for a day during the tournament, will be attended by two delegates from each country. During this congress, we have already requested for a five-year plan”, Raushaan said. “The International Federation has already asked to prepare a list of hosting countries to be held in those five years”.

“Out of the 12 countries that come to [the Maldives for the tournament], nine will now be included in that list. So, during this congress, it will be determined which countries will host the tournament in the next five years”.

The countries that will be arriving to the tournament include India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

As per Raushaan, a former world champion has been appointed to prepare the team for the tournament. When they arrive in the Maldives next month, they will conduct a training camp with national team athletes under the supervision of the coach.

The Maldives men’s carrom team is third in world rankings. This time, the Maldives aims to win gold medals in the women’s and men’s categories. “It is very important that we all do everything we can to support the national team”, Minister Rafiu said. “We should expect our team to win gold medal at the tournament and nothing less”.