THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the fast paced excitement of Twenty20 cricket catching on around the world, the All India Carrom Federation has made amendments to the Law of Carroms in a bid to make Carroms speedier and popular.
The new rules approved by the general council of the Carrom Federation that strike restrictions right out of the board is expected to make a significant change in the pace and, particularly, the duration of the game.
The 11th Inter Institution National Carrom Championship beginning in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, the first national level championship to be held as per the new rules, will decide the impact of the changes that came into effect from April 1.
As per the new rules, all matches shall be decided on the basis of best of three sets of four boards or 23 points whichever is earlier. A player who reaches 23 points first or leads on conclusion of the fourth board will be the winner of the set. The ‘game’ shall be called a ‘set’. The most interesting aspect of the new rules is that the ‘Queen’ (the red carrom) will only have the value of two points. And to own the red, unlike in the earlier rules, there is no need to supplement it with a black or white carrom.
The player shall be credited with the value of the queen, only if he wins the board. Loser of the board shall not get any point even if he or she pockets the queen. The number of opponent carroms lying on the board along with the queen will be counted as points of the winner and a maximum of 11 points can be scored in a board.
The queen can now be pocketed even after dropping all the nine white or black carroms. In case a player collects all his carroms except the queen, the board will not be treated as over.
He shall win the board if he pockets the queen. If he fails, the turn will pass on to the opponent.
The opponent can drop the queen either at the beginning or in between or in the end. If after pocketing the queen, few carrom remain on the board, he shall continue his turn till he is able to pocket the remaining carrom. On pocketing all his carrom and the queen, he wins the board by 2 points since his opponent has already pocketed all his carroms. If he fails to pocket any of the remaining carrom, he will lose the board with the number of carrom lying on the board.
Besides, the player shall get two points for pocketing queen at all stages of the set without any consideration of the score.
A player shall not take more than 10 second to make a stroke and to place the penalty or due.
According to the rules, players can consult their coaches during the intervening time of two minutes, which will be allowed between the first and second set and between second and third sets. Matches for cadets, subjunior and junior players should be conducted with time limit of 22 minutes for each set and the total time of 70 minutes for each match.
In the aforesaid backdrop, the present Carrom Championship assumes utmost prominence.
“The championship will witness the improved fast and shortened game (set) of carrom.
We are eager to know the impact of this improvised shortened game in this championship,” said P Raveendran, secretary, Kerala State Carrom Association.
NATIONAL MEET
Sports Minister M Vijayakumar will inaugurate the 11th Inter Institution National Carrom Championship, jointly organised by the Kerala State Carrom Association and GV Raja Foundation, to be held at the GV Raja Centenary Hall (Bhagyamala Auditorium), Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium here from June 2 to 5.
As many as 180 top ranked national and international players, among both men and women, including world champions and Asian champions representing various institutions like RBI, LIC, BSNL, NABARD, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), Indian Audit and Accounts, All India Civil Services, Indian Airlines and Indian Postal Services.
Six different events namely team championships and singles and doubles events for men and women will be held in the tournament.
In the ‘Meet the Masters’ programme to be held on June 4, the junior carrom players of the state will interact with world champions including Yogesh Pardeshi, M Nataraj and Maria Irudayam.