18-time carrom champ makes kites for living

Vadodara: Over the last few weeks, Imran Sheikh wakes up early and begins picking up the small sticks to paste them on colourful pieces of papers. As he finishes making a kite within minutes, his fingers move on to another piece of paper and this continues throughout the day. But making kites is not the only expertise that Sheikh boasts of. His fingers, in fact, work smoothly while playing a game that has brought him laurels among carrom players in the state.
Not many know, who work around him, that Imran is a state champion in carrom. “I have been playing carrom professionally since 2000. And after I began participating in state carrom championships in 2001, I have never lost any tournament till date,” said Imran as he tested the flexibility of the kites he was preparing ahead of Uttarayan.

“I love to play carrom. The sport is my life and never has a single day gone when I haven’t sat around a carrom and played a game or two. I would love to play the game much more but then I have to make ends meet too. So I began making and selling kites about 15 years ago,” Imran told TOI.

When asked whether he ever looked for any job, Imran said, “I did but it is difficult to get a job when one is not much educated. I wish I had landed up with some job based on my carrom achievements.”

Imran’s father Ibrahim Sheikh too was a district carrom champion. So Imran grew up watching the sport at his home in Yakutpura. Yakutpura. He grew up watching and playing carrom and that is how he picked up the game early on. “My father was a district carrom champion so he was my first and best coach. I learnt nuances of the game from him,” recalled 38-year-old Imran. The Baroda District carrom Association too is all praises for Imran and has lauded his achievements.

Imran once got 6th rank in national carrom championships and has reached west zone finals twice. “carrom is played a lot in Vadodara. The government must support this game to produce more champions,” Imran added.