The North American Premier Carrom League featured ten teams who played a full round-robin league, with nine rounds and 45 total matches. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Every sport evolves. Cricket moved from Tests to ODIs, coloured clothing, T20, T10, and box cricket. In Cleveland, Ohio, carrom took its own bold step forward with the North American Premier Carrom League, a 10-team, 60-player event that brought structure, strategy, technology, and team emotion into a sport often seen as a quiet indoor pastime.

The NAPCL format was ambitious. Ten teams played a full round-robin league, with nine rounds and 45 total matches. Every round had five matches running simultaneously, requiring 25 boards. Each team fielded six players, graded from G1 to G6, with five matches per round, four singles and one doubles. A team needed to win three matches to claim the round.

The real innovation came in the tactical layer. Players were drafted online by captains and owners, using a structured system guided by AI tools under the visionary leadership of commissioner Umakanth Pandurangaiah. Each player tier had flexibility, but also restrictions. Captains had to submit fresh playing positions before every round. There was no carryover. Every match became a chessboard before the striker was even flicked.

That made NAPCL different. A player could lose his individual singles game and still walk away fulfilled because the team had won. The weaker G5 and G6 tiers became vital. How captains used them often decided matches. Strategy, prediction, matchups, and nerve mattered as much as raw skill.

The event also had a generational flavor. USA national champion Ajay Arora captained NYL Baazigars, the eventual Champions group winners. Across the hall, his father Arun Kumar and 7-year old son Aarav played for Northeast Pocketing Machines. Few sports moments offer that kind of family subplot.

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NYL Baazigars justified their billing and stood atop the Champions podium, backed by enthusiastic owner Veenitha Bokaria. Phoenix Strikers captured the Challengers group, with US Carrom Association president Atul Bhave, of the Phoenix Strikers, producing the tournament’s only black slam.

With $7,500 in total prize money, including $3,500 for the Champions winners and $1,000 for the Challengers winners, the stakes felt real. But the larger prize was the camaraderie and internal team connections created over the three-day carrom event. Lower-tier players shared space, pressure, and advice with star captains.

Traditional singles and doubles tournaments will remain the main course. But NAPCL proved that carrom has room for a flavourful side dish. And this one tasted good.

Published on May 22, 2026