CHENNAI: Wrapped inside a jute tote bag are the two out of three trophies Carrom World Cup champion L Keerthana brought home early this month. “There are too many of them. There’s no space for them in our home, so I sent some away to the board room. The team trophy is there at the club,” says her mother, Indirani, brimming with pride as she presents her daughter’s recent accolades.
Keerthana, who won three gold medals at the 7th Carrom World Cup 2025, lives in a humble stretch of a house right behind the Kasimedu beach in New Washermanpet’s Cherian Nagar. Her home is a simple one-room with a bed that occupies most of the space, which she shares with her two siblings and mother.
As you walk through the streets, posters and banners of the young champ greet you from water tanks and electric boards. People guide you to her home, where a banner with her World Cup win welcomes you.
Keerthana’s passion for carrom was seeded by her late father, R Loganathan, whose dream she realised with her three World Cup wins. “She brought in trophies, certificates and reward money,” recalls her mother on why she let her daughter pursue a rather off-beat sport.
Keerthana has always been a champion whom her family has supported. From pawning her mom’s jewellery to her brother, who was also a carrom player, dropping the game to support the family, her win is a collective win of her family’s sacrifices
Carrom is her life. We have always believed in her potential to win, and we let her be
Indirani
State-level competitions and other small events were funded through her family. When the trip to the Maldives for the World Cup matches seemed too expensive, the State chipped in.
A few metres away from her small home is Keerthana’s second home, the Carrommen Coaching Academy (CCA), where she and a bunch of other young players practice day in and day out. “I wake up, go to the club to practice and come back for food, and I return there,” shares the 22-year-old champion who has been showered with attention and adulation over the last few weeks.
The academy is run by Nithiyarajan, who is training more kids to win championships. The team is preparing for the State-level tournament scheduled to be held next month in Kanniyakumari
Children from across the State are here at the club learning the game, while they stay at Nithiyarajan’s home while training.
Keerthana’s practice room overlooks the Kasimedu beach, a sea view practice room where she spent more than 16 hours every day training for her World Cup matches. When asked about her other interests besides carrom, Keerthana smiles and says, “I am always there at the club.”
Keerthana dropped out of school after she failed Class 10 board exams. Carrom then became her life, which she had to drop following the death of her father in 2017. However, the champ found her way back to the game with the help of many Good Samaritans, including Nithiyarajan, who offered help when he was working at a steel patra unit. She picked up the game again, and there has been no looking back ever since.
Talking about the World Cup wins, Keerthana says wearing the India jersey was surreal, a moment she will always cherish. “I have been playing this game for 13 years now, and I did not want to lose after going that far. My only goal was to make the country, my family and Tamil Nadu proud. It was really cold in the Maldives, and it was tough focusing, but I won despite that.”
Keerthana, while revelling in her success and the attention, awaits a government job and has her eyes set on the Arjuna Award like her mentor and Chennai’s two-time world champion Maria Irudhayam.
‘Now, I’m known as Khazima’s father’
A few homes away from Keerthana’s is a story of another father-daughter duo, who changed how carrom came to be known in the locality and the city.
“I was a simple auto driver, but now I am known as Khazima’s father,” says Mahaboob Basha, who looks after the Cherian Nagar Carrom Coaching Club that was built by the DMK’s trust fund following M Khazima’s win in the Carrom World Cup last year. Basha’s passion for Carrom came from his father, which he passed on to his children.
The club has produced 16 national-level winners in the game, a feather in Basha’s cap that he proudly flaunts.
“My dream is to inspire and create many such winners like me, and help them have easy access to a proper training club,” says the former World Cup champion, Khazima, who bagged three medals at the event this year. “Carrom is always considered the game of the slum, and it’s often stereotyped. In movies, you see a bunch of thugs playing the game on the road, and that is about it. But it’s really the game of the brain, like chess. With Khazima’s win, that perception has changed. Increasingly, more people are getting involved in the game,” says Khazima’s father, who is living his dream of winning multiple carrom championships through his daughter and the many kids he trains at the club.
The government’s investment in sports has motivated more kids to take up sports professionally is a common sentiment across Cherian Nagar. “From grand master Gukesh to Kannagi Nagar’s Karthika, this city has so many champions; it has been only stories of success,” adds Basha, who urges the government to keep investing in sports.
Khazima now owns her own house and wishes to continue churning out more champions with the club’s help.
The girls’ win has been inspiring to many near them. “Even I couldn’t pass my Class 10 exams, but Keerthana’s wins have motivated me to keep pursuing the game. Next, you will be here to interview me,” quips 15-year-old Sanjana, who trains at CCA.