It can happen only in India. With Cricket being promoted and moneyed at all costs, Other Sports have all been left to rot. So much so, a World Champ has had to struggle for a job. This Girl is a world champ in Carrom and won the Championship at Cannes recently. This isnt her first too, this is her second. And you know what , the Indian Teams dominated the championships totally.
Women Singles – India, Men’s Singles- India, Women’s Team Event- India, Men’s Team- Runners up- India. It was total world domination and yet not a single newspaper or new channel thought it worthwhile to even report it.
You can check the list of winners here
http://www.international-carrom-fed-media-commission.org/5thworldchamp.htm
Surprising aspect was , Indians seem to dominate this game totally, so much so you had a bunch of Indians who represented other countries. Team USA comprised entirely of Indians
http://www.uscarrom.org/events/2008/international_open.html
Coming back to the winner of the singles event Illamvazhagi, she lives in a slum trying to eke out a living.. Her father is her coach and is the sole bread winner and he drives a tricycle cart.
Here is the complete article about her on the NDTV site
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/showsports.aspx?id=SPOEN20080042357&ch=2/25/2008%209:10:00%20PM
One more story now of how sportspersons other than cricketers are treated in our country.
A slum dweller in Chennai who has won the World Carrom Championship at Cannes just wants a job.
But despite her achievement – and despite the fact that successful sportspersons are sometimes so richly rewarded by the government – there seems to be no sign of any government help coming her way.
23-year-old I. Illamvazhagi lives in a one room house in a North Chennai slum, where even placing a carrom board is a tight squeeze. But it is where a two time World Carrom Champion lives.
She is just back home after winning the World Championship in the women’s category in France and can’t help worrying about her future. Her family of five survives on the daily earnings of her father who rides a tricycle cart.
Interestingly, he’s been her coach too. Despite her international crowns she says the government has done nothing for her. Even a job in a public sector company that she was promised 2 years ago, when she won her first World Championship, still eludes her.
“Just look at my living condition,” Illamvazhagi says. “In Maharashtra, players who even compete at the international level get financial assistance from the government. Here after winning, I’ve got nothing.”
This talented Dalit Christian girl could afford regular schooling only upto class 10. But she’s managed to continue her studies through correspondence courses and will soon complete an arts degree.
A good samaritan, an IAS Officer in Chennai, had helped her find a sponsor for her trips abroad.
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