Nataraj and Rashmi win World Cup

NEW DELHI, OCT. 24. M. Nataraj and Rashmi Kumari won the men's and women's titles in the inaugural World Cup carrom tournament held in Luton, England, from October 20 to 23.

The 29-year-old Nataraj defeated the reigning World champion, compatriot R.M. Shankara, in three games after losing the first game and trailing 19-24 in the second. In the semifnals, Nataraj defeated M.T.M. Hilmy of Sri Lanka 25-9, 25-13 while Shankara downed compatriot Yogesh Pardeshi 25-11, 25-14.

The women's world champion 18-year-old Rashmi Kumari clinched the crown, beating copatriot P. Nirmala 25-12, 25-15 in the final, scoring a black slam on the way. Rashmi defeated Alice Chenu of France 25-0, 25-7 while Nirmala outplayed Amitha Wickrramasinghe of Sri Lanka 25-0, 25-0 in the semifinals.

The men's doubles title was baggged by M. Nataraj and R.M. Shankara as they beat Yogesh Pardesh and Raju Bhaisare 21-12 in the final that was played on a single-game format. The women's doubles title was bagged by Rashmi and Nirmala. The other countries, apart from host UK and India, to compete in the tournament, that was played on a Swiss league cum knock-out format, were France, Japan, Switzerland, Maldives, Italy, Korea and Sri Lanka.

There were seven slams in the tournament. Rashmi scored two of them, one white and a black, while Raju Bhaisare, P. Nirmala, Yogesh Pardesh, M. Nataraj also scored a white slam each. Hilmy was the only non-Indian to score a slam.

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