Carrom Assn chief Desadla submits protest letter to govt

Maha Carrom Assn chairman Bharat Desadla; (right) State sports commissioner Suhas Diwase

Maharashtra Carrom Association (MCA) chairman Bharat Desadla met with state sports commissioner Suhas Diwase and Joint Director-Sports Sudhir More in Pune on Wednesday to submit a letter of protest after carrom was recently removed from the list of 38 games that qualify for the Shiv Chhatrapati Award.

Desadla, however, felt that the meeting was a futile exercise. "We told them [government officials] that Maharashtra players have been dominating carrom at the international level. Also, with as many as 50 per cent of Team India's players are from our state, it's unfair to give the game step-motherly treatment.

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"Unfortunately, we did not get a satisfactory response from them. They listened to us and accepted our protest letter, but did not give us any assurance in the matter. We need to consider other avenues to strengthen our protest," Desadla told mid-day on Wednesday.

Since MCA's inception in 1954, Maharashtra has produced 30 international players and as many Shiv Chhatrapati awardees. Reigning world champion Sandeep Dive, World No. 3 Nilam Ghodake and leading international player Abhijeet Tripankar are from Maharashtra. Dive, who is currently jobless, is eyeing the Shiv Chhatrapati Award with the hope of getting employment. "While the removal of carrom from the government's official list for this award came as a rude shock to our fraternity, what hurt more is that they [state government] did not even deem it necessary to discuss this with the MCA before taking such a big step" added Desadla.