Rajesh Dhar
JAMMU, Jan 6: It is believed that we Indians have fetish for foreign things. It may be anything- Game or Gooseberry, whether good or bad, without a second thought, eyes closed, we purchase them, adopt them and make them a part of our life, our culture. At the same time, we discard ‘desi’, how much good, beneficial it may be. We accept ‘desi’ only, when labeled foreign. It was in our psyche and we could hardly deviate from it, how persistent efforts we might have made. However, gone are the days when the Indians were habitual of adopting foreign things only. In the present era, we talk of ‘Make in India’ movement and the game of Roll Ball has set an example in this regard.
This was stated by Raju Dabhade, the Founder of Roll Ball Game during a freewheeling chat with this Correspondent on the sidelines of All India Inter-University Roll Ball Championship at MA Stadium in Jammu.
He said, there are some games of Indian origin played across the world, but Roll Ball is the exceptional one which has the International Roll Ball Federation (IRBF) at Pune in India, otherwise all such games have the World Body Offices outside the Country, thus serving the cause of the slogan of the day-‘Make in India’ movement.
Mr Dabhade said that in just 14 years of its existence, Roll Ball has the honour of holding four World Cups in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 in India, Kenya, India and Bangladesh respectively, wherein Denmark won the first one and India bagged the other three.
“Roll Ball is being played in around 50 countries of the World, which is itself a record. Otherwise, the games having the existence of over 300 years are played only in 20 to 30 countries across the world,” informed Mr Dabhade.
To a question as to who played pivotal role in helping this game of Indian origin to flourish across the world, Raju Dabhade, a Sports Teacher in a Private School at Pune, who is believed to have sold his own land for the establishment of this game said that there are a number of organizations, institutions and persons who supported us in our mission of promoting this game. Ashok Bhau Jain, Vasant Rathi, Suryakant Kakade, Vinit Kuber and Manoj Kumar Yadav are a few persons to name.
Expressing his views, Manoj Kumar Yadav, Vice President Roll Ball Federation of India said that the Federation has 28 affiliate units across the country, adding that the game is being played in the age groups of U-11, 14 and 17 apart from the Senior Group.
He further said that there are 40 countries which represent in men’s section and 30 in women’s section.
Replying to a question as to whether the game falls in the SROs to benefit its players, Mr Dabhade, who is also General Secretary of the Roll Ball Federation of India said that around seven to eight thousand senior Roll Ball players run their families with the earnings from the game, adding that some States like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam and likes have presented big cash awards and other incentives to Roll Ball players.
He said, we left no stone unturned to induct the game as a discipline in School Games Federation of India (SGFI) and All India Inter-University Tournament, besides holding National and International Tournaments, adding that the efforts are on to introduce the sport in Asian, Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
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