E-Paper
Practising at home to playing pregnant, it’s all about the game for India’s carrom world champions
Aspirations of its practitioners are modest. However, the passion and talent are world class
PUNE Rashmi Kumari and S Appoorwa – have two things in common; their fathers were state carrom players and the inspiration for the women to make a career in sport.
Kumari from Patna and S Appoorwa from Hyderabad are the two senior Indian players who credit carrom for all what they have achieved in life
Kumari currently works in ONGC, New Delhi and S Appoorwa is LIC agent in Hyderabad.
“Lots of government jobs become available, which is a major boost. Getting a government job is the dream of a commoner and I got it only because I was a carrom player,” said S Appoorwa, who played her first international tournament in 2004 and then won the Carrom World Championship in Colombo.
Appoorwa then took a 12-year break before she got back into the game in style, winning the world championship in 2016 at Birmingham.
“In those 12 years I did not play any professional carrom tournaments, but I was playing it at home. It was my husband who brought me back to the sport,” added Apporwa.
Pregnant and playing
Kumari was the final trimester of her pregnancy when she turned up for the Senior National Carrom Championship in 2012. Kumari did same when she had her second child.
“I was seven months pregnant in 2016 with my second child. It was a national and inter-zonal tournament. I knew if I missed the tournaments I would be restless,” added Kumari.
Looking at her father Uday Prakash, Kumari learnt the basics of the game.
“It is a hard once you opt for it professionally. You need focus completely and loss of concentration can hit you badly as even if you are leading 24-0, the match can turn around in your opponent’s favour,” added Kumari.
