http://www.tehelka.com/story_main39.asp?filename=cr030508late_breakfast.asp
>From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 17, Dated May 03, 2008 ENGAGED CIRCLE against odds Late Breakfast For Champions Recognition for world women's carrom champion Ilavazhagi has come late, but prospects for her and the game are finally looking up, reports PC VINOJ KUMAR Ilavazhagi's is a classic inspirational story. This Chennai girl, the world's new women's carrom champion, braved abject poverty and official indifference to reach the very pinnacle of the game. She won the world title in France this February, but in a nation caught up in heated discussions of the multi-crore IPL auction, her triumphant homecoming went unnoticed. The two-time SAARC champion and the 2006 World Cup winner finally got a fillip when the State government announced a Rs 10 lakh cash prize for her. But it came only after she gave some acerbic interviews to local television channels attacking the government for its step-motherly treatment of carrom. Ilavazhagi, a Dalit, her parents and two younger sisters live in a cramped 10x10 feet single room flat in one of the slum clearance board's tenements in Vyasarpadi in North Chennai. Her father, who is also her personal coach, drives a motorised fish cart and supports the family with his meagre income. Carrom is extremely popular in the slums of North Chennai, played mostly outdoors, in street corners. "Many who play this game are children of coolies and labourers. Most are Dalits. I have always wondered whether this was why carrom did not get the attention it deserved all these years," says Ilavazhagi. Several other playerss who have made a mark in the game at the state, national and international levels — Maria Irudayam, world men's champion in 1991 and 1995, and Revathy, who won the world women's title in 1995, for example — are Dalits like her. Ilavazhagi says it was the need to find a job that spurred her on to reach the highest level of the game and not any lofty ambition of becoming world champion. "I felt that if I became a good carrom player, I would get a government job and I could support my family. I did not play for my country. I played for myself. Anyway what has the country done for me?" asks Ilavazhagi, who has attended tournaments held in Maldives, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, and won prestigious titles like the Asia Cup and the Malaysian Open besides the World Cup. The cash strapped Tamil Nadu Carrom Association (TNCA) had rendered some assistance to her initially, but generous support came from a sport-loving Dalit IAS officer, Christodas Gandhi. Gandhi, who recently took charge as secretary, youth welfare and sports development department, has consistently provided her financial support to participate in international tournaments since 2003, often from his personal funds. The carrom fraternity in the state is in high spirits following Ilavazhagi's latest triumph. "At last we are seeing the fruits of our long struggle to bring recognition for carrom, the poor man's game," says B. Bangaru Babu, founder secretary general of International Carrom Federation (ICF). Interestingly, Chennai has always been the country's hotspot for carrom. The All India Carrom Federation was born in the city in 1956 and the ICF was formed here in 1988. Tamil Nadu has produced four world champions since the first edition of the Carrom World Cup was launched in Delhi in 1991. Neglected for many years, things are beginning to change for carom. For the first time, winners of the national carrom championship held in Chennai recently were given a Rs 1 lakh cash award. The man responsible for it was Gandhi. He told TEHELKA, "Once Ilavazhagi came back after winning an international tournament in Sri Lanka, I asked her what was the prize they gave her. She showed me some tea packets. I was shocked at the condition of the game and decided to help in my small way the game's development." With Ilavazhagi's win, it seems that finally carrom is about to find its place on the stage with other popular games. >From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 17, Dated May 03, 2008 ------------------------------------ -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/joinYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
