‘Carrom is evolving,needs some recognition’

“Until then,I had always taken my time to assess the board carefully and plan my shots,” says Yogesh Pardeshi,winner of two World Cups,one World Championship and two World Swiss League titles. “People thought players like me and (2001 World Champion) M Nataraj were history. Lots of very good players definitely fell back.”

Pardeshi has coped perfectly well. Two of his three national titles have come after the rule change,and his performances at the international level – where players still have 15 seconds to play their shots – have remained just as consistent. In 2010,at Richmond,Virginia,Pardeshi won the World Cup singles,came second in the doubles and won his second World Swiss League title. Last week,in Dhaka,he won his seventh SAARC championship.

Now,the 36-year-old is playing endless matches at home against his wife Mangal Pardeshi to prepare for his defence of the World Championship title that he won four years ago in Cannes. This year’s World Championships will be held in late October in Colombo. But before that,Pardeshi will need to get through the selection trials for the Indian team,which will be conducted later this month.

“While training for a major event,you need to practice for 12 hours every day,sleep for eight hours,set aside two hours for food and exercise,and two more hours for counselling with your coaches,” he says. Since 2001,when Indian Oil employed him on their sports quota,Pardeshi has managed to support this sort of schedule. Till then,he had been forced to squeeze bursts of carrom into days spent toiling away at one low-paying job after another.

“I did all kinds of things to support myself. I painted houses for a year. From 9 am to 7 pm,I would be busy with that,and then I’d come home and practise,” says Pardeshi.

“After that,I sold carrom coins and strikers to players. In 2000,I worked as a peon in a chartered accountant’s office. I swept the floor and made tea for the guests.”

Pardeshi’s father sold vada pav and idli sambhar at railway stations. Growing up in a 10×10 room in Subhash Nagar,Yerawada,Pardeshi learned the game while accompanying his brother to one of Pune’s many carrom clubs.

“In those first few years,I would be at the carrom club from 9 am to 6pm,and then come back home to fill water from the corporation tap,” he recalls.

“At 7.45,I’d be back at the club,and stay till midnight or 1 am – basically,till the owner told me to leave. On my way back home,in my head,I would only see the board,and coins going into the pockets. Even now,I have these visions.”

Pardeshi’s obsession with carrom borders on devotion. “Carrom for me can never be timepass,” he says. “I can’t play it casually. The game has taken me from a time when I didn’t have slippers on my feet to where I am now. I have a job,a home,and I’m sending my children to school.”

But he still wishes the game has a higher profile in Maharashtra. Two years ago,when Pardeshi and L Izhavazhagi won the men’s and women’s titles at the World Cup in Richmond,Virginia,they returned home to contrasting receptions from their respective home states.

“The Tamil Nadu government gave Ilavazhagi something like Rs 20 lakh for her singles win,and Rs 10 lakh for the doubles. Even other players from the state like B Radhakrishnan and G Revathi got cash awards,” says Pardeshi. “Maharashtra has a lot of top players,including me and World number 3 Prakash Gaikwad,but even though we have been making efforts,the state government hasn’t done anything for carrom. I don’t want to compare different sports,but recently,when the Indian women’s team won the kabaddi World Cup,they gave Rs 1 crore to all Maharashtra players. A little bit of recognition would really help carrom.”