The All India Carrom Federation (AICF) (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय कैरम फेडरेशन) is India's national sport federation for the indigenous game of carrom, sanctioning six to seven national-level tournaments per year. It is India's representative body in the International Carrom Federation. The AICF has 15 regional and 28 state subnational affiliate institutions, the largest of which is the Maharashtra Carrom Association, further subdivided into local organisations.
As of 2007, the federation's president is Rakibul Hussain and its general secretary is Bharti Narayan. Recent national champions include R. M. Shankra, Ravinder Goud and A. Maria Irudayam.
History
The state associations as its member. Shri C. Cunnaiah of Tamil Nadu was the General Secretary and Shri Hedvekar of Maharashtra was elected as its President. It got itself registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 at Madras on 7 July 1977. The Federation was recognized by the Sports Council of India on 26 October 1970. It became the member of the International Carrom Federation on 15 October 1988 and played a pivotal role in the formation of the International Federation. In 1991, the Government of India included the game of carrom in its list for the purpose of recruitment under sports quota in Government offices/ organizations. The Asian Carrom Confederation became affiliated with the AICF in September 1995.
The All-India Carrom Federation and the game of carrom was recognized[clarification needed] by the Indian Olympic Association on 26 October 1997. The game of carrom was also recognized by the School Games Federation of India in 1996.
The organisation at present has 31 Indian state/UT[clarification needed] associations and 15 Institutions as its affiliates. The Working Committee of the Federation is elected for a term of four years. The last elections to the Federation were held in August 2003 at Goa. AICF regularly conducts national championships for sub-junior, junior, and senior (older adult) divisions. It also conducts institutional national championships.[clarification needed], the All-India Federation Cup, and various other all-India ranking and prize-money tournaments every year. It has so far conducted 96 national championships for sub-junior, junior and senior players, and has introduced cadet (under 12 years of age) and youth (under 21 years of age) national championships.[clarification needed]
The Federation has also made bilateral arrangements with various countries for organizing "Test Series"[clarification needed] competitions. India and Sri Lanka are playing Test Series on regular basis. The Federation hosted two World Championships in Delhi: the 1st World Carrom Championship in 1991 and the 3rd World Carrom Championship in 2000.[clarification needed]
