All good things have to come to an end. Well, when 85-year-old B.K. Haranath handed over the baton to an energetic and enterprising K. Santhosh Kumar of Nizamabad as president of the Carrom Association of Telangana (CAT) on Sunday, it was not just another election to a sports body.
The uniqueness of this smooth change of guard meant that Mr. Haranath will be stepping down from a post that he held for a mind-boggling 53 years, as the head of the State carrom body, both in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and in Telangana.
By all means, he belonged to an era of administrators who had a passion to promote the sport.
“Honestly, the biggest challenge is to keep the flock together in the State body. So diverse were the opinions and interests... Now, I am glad that the sport and the players gained the kind of recognition I was desperately looking for when I took over,” he said. “I have no regrets and I hope the new team will continue the good work,” he added.
Not many might be aware that carrom, despite being a non-Olympic sport, produced the first world champion from the Telugu-speaking States in the form of S. Appoorwa. Promoters such as Mr. Haranath, S. Madanraj (re-elected as secretary of CAT) were instrumental in about 50 players getting jobs in LIC, RBI, AG’s Office, to name a few.
Being a national player himself, Mr. Harnath always had the feel of what a player needs. The founder-president of CAT, he will continue to as honorary Life President of the body.
Notable milestones in the sport during Mr. Harnath’s tenure include the Haseena Memorial Indian Grand Slam championship at Narenn Convention Centre in Miyapur in April 2018, which offered the the biggest prize money for a carrom event at ₹5 lakh.
Arguably, Mr. Santhosh and his team of office-bearers P. Sai Krishna (treasurer), J. Praveen Kumar (senior vice-president) and S. Shobhan Raj (organising secretary) have a task on hand and a rich legacy to keep going.
