A lad in blue jumped several feet up in the air and rammed a ball into a net but it bounced off. Making his way through opponents, a lad in red dived at the ball and tried to catch it but it slipped off. The ball touched the ground and the crowd erupted in cheers. The referee raised his hand, palm rolled into a ball. It was a goal.

Most of the crowd had never seen such a game before but anyone watching quickly got sucked into the fast and exciting sport. CK-CL Park hosted the eighth senior state tchoukball championship, organised by the West Bengal Tchoukball Association and the CK-CL Block Residents’ Association.

“Teams have come from 10 districts of Bengal including those from faraway places like Darjeeling,” said Shanti Ranjan Pal, president of the tchoukball association who is also secretary of the block association. Most players were from humble backgrounds and since the game isn’t well-known, most were football players who had switched or continue to play both games.

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“This is a game that won’t let you stand. We love it but there’s no money in it. We need more sponsors, tournaments and especially government recognition,” said Asok Kumar Kundu, a player of the Calcutta men’s team.

Himangshu Ghosh Dastidar, secretary of the tchoukball association, said the sport is being played at the club level now but to take it to the grassroots level they face a chicken-and-egg situation. “If we ask schools to include it in their sports curriculum they ask if it is recognised by the School Games Federation of India and if we approach the federation they ask how many schools play it. Without going mainstream, there is no government funding,” he said.

A player springs to catch a deflected ball before it hits the ground Picture by Saradindu Chaudhury

Some of the women players were mothers and a few had even brought their children along. “My husband is home, manning our moa shop so there was no one to watch my two- year-old daughter,” said Moli Das of the South 24-Parganas team. Her baby slept in the tent while she played and then her teammates helped her look after the child. “This is a wonderful game that I wish was more popular. I shall surely make my daughter play it,” she said.

The loudspeaker blasted a theme song of the sport, sung by Pilu Bhattacharya, that briefly explained its rules and origins and pumped up one’s spirit. “This game is so fast I’m scared of getting hit, but it’s so exciting that I can’t move away either,” laughed Tapash Sen, assistant secretary of the block, who sat ringside.

A lady in the audience, Monalisa Sengupta of CL Block, got nostalgic watching it. “Would you believe that I played this game in school?” she said excitedly. “They had introduced it informally in my locality and tried to introduce it in school unsuccessfully. We played our hearts out till the nets got damaged. That was the end of it. But I am overjoyed that it has come to my block now,” she said, glued behind a net to catch the action.

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The final round of the two-day event was between N24 Parganas and S24 Paranas in the men’s category and between Calcutta and S24 Paranas for women. The players of the southern district won both events. The men’s scorecard was a nail-biting 52:49.

While the men and women’s southern teams, under the guidance of coach Manotosh Kar Gupta, danced in a huddle at their victory, the runners-up were distraught. “We lost simply due to lack of fitness and lack of a field to practice,” said Abhijit Prasad of the N24 Parganas team. “It hurts even more as we have won this tournament five times before.” Though it was hardly a consolation, Prasad was man of the tournament.