12-year-old aims to be world carrom champ

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Twelve-year-old N. Arun Kumar can hardly afford a carrom board for himself, but is the under-12 state carrom champion.

The family of Arun, who was born and raised in Chintadripet, is not well-to-do. The carrom champion is the son of a ward assistant at Royapettah Government Hospital. He picked up the nuances of the board game at the Chintadripet Police Boys Club.

“He came to us for tuitions. When we decided to start teaching children carrom and football, he preferred the former and showed great interest,” said N. Vijayan, secretary of the Chintadripet Police Boys Club. “National carrom players Sengutuvan and Chandramohan used to train him for four hours every evening. Of the 18 players who participated in the state meet from our club, he came out in flying colours,” said A. Robert, who is now the scouts’ master at the club.

Arun, a Class 7 student at St Augustine Middle School, won the district under-12 carrom title two months ago. He followed it up with a gold at the state-level meet. Now, he is preparing to represent TN at the national meet in November.

“I want to become a world player and achieve success like current world champion P. Radhakrishnan,” said a bashful Arun, who also wishes to serve society as a doctor. His ailing father A. Nathan is, however, struggling to make ends meet.

“We are trying to help Arun by providing free coaching,” said Vijayan.

To help the young carrom player call Vijayan at 98417-33584. (sujatha.s@deccanmail.com [2])