Fostering champions
The three-time world carrom champion is on a mission to help underprivileged players to groom their talent.
Ilavazhaki. S, the three-time carrom world champion, is now on a noble and ambitious journey of building an academy for the needy young talents. For the uninitiated, Ilavazhaki is a talented carrom player, who has about 210 gold medals, 35 silver, and 17 bronzes to her name, won from various national and international tournaments.
Ilavazhaki is currently on a mission to raise funds for her World Carrom Champion Academy and wants to increase their work multifold. “Many underprivileged students are part of our WCCA. For these young talents, it is hard to go for tournaments and cover all the expenses. So, our academy, partnered with Milaap, has started this campaign to raise funds and take this academy forward,” Ilavazhaki says.
The world champion even had the chance of settling down in France as the country offered her the sponsorship and residence, but Ilavazhaki turned it down — “I only play for my motherland. It has given me the opportunity and space for me to pursue my dreams. I would be even more happy if I could make this mission a great success.”
When probed about her dreams for the academy, she says, “Our aim is to start a national league of sorts for carrom in India. We would like to take this game higher and more popular here.”
Currently, she is renting halls for the coaching students, but hopes to build a separate facility for WCCA and continue to foster many champions.
(You can contribute for her cause through the following link — https://milaap.org/fundraisers/worldchampilavazhaki)