Carrom demonstration at the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens
August 2004 (this article has been edited)
Report by Krishan K. Sharma

I am delighted to confirm that as a result of the excellent support and encouragement of M. Zahir-Naseer (President Maldives National Olympic Committee, President Asian Carrom Confederation, President Maldives Carrom Federation and Treasurer International Carrom Federation) we were able to exhibit four Carrom Boards in the Club-Café "Poseidon" - the main pool bar-café for the swimming pool of the Olympic Village. The Boards were in use for about 14 days from around 5 pm to 1am (the times when the Café used to be open).

Such a wonderful opportunity arose only because Zahir used his prerogative to nominate me as his guest, as a result of which I had access to the Olympic Village. He also introduced me to Irina Matojan, Regional Coordinator - Asia NOC Relations, Athens 2004 Organising Committee.  Through the charming co-operation of Irina, I was introduced to Anthie Koukiou, Entertainments Supervisor, Olympic Village Operations. Anthie very kindly arranged for us to have space for four Carrom Boards.

The demonstration was successful for us in many ways. Over these 14 days, the Australian swimmers, German Hockey players, Greek Badminton doubles pair, Liechtenstein  shooter, Algerian Coach, New Zealand Hockey player, the
army and police bomb squad team in the village, athletes from Uganda, Portugal, Latvia, Mauritius, UAE and Sudan etc., numerous volunteers in the village all very much appreciated Carrom. Some quotes from them were "Very good game", "Very exciting game", "Very smart game", "Excellent", "Perfect", "its very difficult to stop this game if you start, you stuck with this game", "I'll be back tomorrow. I think I could be playing this hours  more", "I think this is a very relaxing game!", "Very original and with a lot of space for tactics", "It's a simple yet complex game, easy to play and to learn, that gets even more interest when you start playing and keep playing", "A relaxing and friendly way to spend a great time", "It's a strategy and planning game, that amuses us while it makes us think", "Carrom is a wonderful game combining both intelligence and a little bit of luck", "It combines thinking and pleasure making it something unique", "I had a great evening with playing a new game", "Great game can't get enough of it"  "Love the game of patience", "Game where you need good control", " game where  you need feeling in your fingers", "That was fun, Why didn't I know about it earlier. I love it", This should definitely be marketed more. Great party game", "Good thing".

Many played and came the following day to play again! On a number of days, all four boards were being used at the same time, which was very satisfying. There were a lot of Greek volunteers, who spent hours playing Carrom and gave me the opportunity to play as well! Three have shown more than enough interest to acquire one Carrom Board each, and keen to set up a Greek Carrom Federation. They are George Patis, George Skylourzkis and Nikos Skoulas.

The down sides were i. We could only start the demonstration after 5 pm  ii. I was not allowed to put up any ICF banners (all banners other than Athens 2004, were banned), iii. I could not set up the table lamps, as it clashed with the lighting of the club iv., to organise the demonstration of Carrom in the Divani Caravel I had to get International Olympic Committee (IOC) permission!

In addition, on Wednesday 25th August 2004, we arranged a special demonstration for the Presidents' and Secretary Generals' of the National Olympic Committees, who were mainly staying in one of the main Olympic Family Hotels. This was held from 1 pm to 6.30 pm in the Aristotelis Conference Room II, 8th Floor, of the Divani Caravel Hotel. An individual letter of invitation, jointly signed by Zahir and myself, together with a special Olympic Souvenir Carrom brochure (prepared by Arif Naqvi, Chairman ICF Media Commission), was delivered to the rooms of 90 of the said Presidents and Secretary Generals. The Presidents & Secretary Generals of the 3 main African countries that came were from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Their comments are "This game is being played in Tanzania, especially with young kids in the sports clubs and street. We have very talented players, except for the rules. It is very important that we now have the rules standardised (Note - I actually gave them all a copy of the Official Laws of Carrom hot off the press, which S K had reprinted only last month). We should very much like to join the Federation", "It is a good innovation but much effort is required to spread the sport throughout the world systematically with provision of the necessary equipment and pamphlets. Financial support by the International Federation required". "I am impressed. Please keep up. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours".  Zahir was also there and his presence, support and encouragement were invaluable.

Further more I saw the Minister of Sport from India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, UK etc., and many other Presidents and Secretary Generals and had numerous opportunities of explaining to them about Carrom and our achievements over the last almost 16 years. Mr. Sunil Dutt, Minister of Sports for India (and also a very famous actor) was very helpful and supportive (Indian Olympic Committee have formally recognised Carom) and said to me that in one of the major Indian movies, he had shown Carrom very prominently. He also knew Arif Naqvi very well. The feed-back was very very positive. I also met a number of other IOC officials and have brought them up to speed with Carrom. I have also realised that the IOC is a huge gigantic machine and will need a lot of diplomatic approaches, from many fronts, for us to make a meaningful impact.

I had a 2 hour meeting with Mr. Ashwini Kumar, IOC member and former head of Security of the IOC. This was very constructive with some very practical suggestions for our way forward e.g. he was convinced that introduction of Carrom among children around the world would be a major benefit in the long-term.

I also had a one hour meeting with Raja Randhir Singh, IOC member, also Secretary General of Olympic Council of Asia. He was very positively in support of Carrom and gave his full support for the inclusion of Carrom in the Indoor Asian Games. He has given me a to-do list of 4 things, which should then get us this first opening for inclusion of carom in an International sporting event (very likely in Macau, China, 2006/7). I have started the ball rolling on this. During this meeting, we also met HH The Prince of Jordan, who also gave his support for the promotion of Carrom.

Some interesting issues have also been raised, following my watching other events. e.g. in most other events, the athletes i. are putting their extreme physical effort, where as in Carrom a lot of self-control is used ii. exhibit their expression very forcefully, whereas in Carrom currently quietness and serenity is the order of the day iii. will argue with
umpires, get red cards, create controversy - all leading to excitement for the audience and the media (in beach volleyball, the side loosing by a wide margin called medical time out at the critical match point), whereas Carrom players are much more calm, cool and collected and iv. finally other sports have much bigger areas, so thousands of spectators can watch, whereas our Carrom Board is comparatively very small. These are some of the challenges we will have to address over time.

We need to be able to contact our own National Olympic Committees to get support and recognition. This will help spread the message with the right people and therefore make our journey a little more comfortable.

Finally it has been a tremendous historic break through for us to be able to exhibit Carrom for the first time in the Olympic Village during the Olympics, and that too in Athens where Olympics had started from, for so many days. Our link with the Olympics is established, we are somewhere well within the 5 Olympic rings! Our ultimate aim of getting Carrom in the Olympics is not going to be easy, but the first major step has been taken and we are on the right track to be there for 2016 or latest 2020. I will end by once again thanking Zahir for making all this happen.