Chandrashekhar Karmalkar and his unconditional love for Cricket
Cricket is a sport that selflessly showers the players with joy, happiness, name and fame. It does not expect anything in return. But then there are true cricketers, who, after their playing days, continue to associate themselves with the sport by some or the other means. Chandrashekhar Karmalkar is one such honest server of the sport.
Born on 1st August 1972, Chandrashekhar started playing cricket at the tender age of 13. Soon he saw himself playing for Mumbai U-15 under the able captainship of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Apart from this, he has represented Thane district in Satkar & Sport Star Trophy and has played Club Cricket in “A” and “B” division tournaments.
Currently he is the coach of two pharma giants; Piramal Enterprises (2008) and Abbott Healthcare (2011). Karmalkar also runs his own cricket coaching academy in Thane by the name of Kwality Sports Club and the practice sessions are conducted at the famous Dadoji Konddev Stadium in Thane. This academy is running successfully for over a decade now. One of the best things about Kwality Sports Club is that it provides free of cost cricket training as well as the otherwise expensive cricket kits to the underprivileged children. It requires a big heart to carry out this noble deed and there is no doubt that Chandrashekhar Karmalkar is the man behind this wonderful concept. This is what we call “giving back to the sport that has given you a lot”
One of his students, Jaideep Pardeshi has not only represented Mumbai U-16, U-19 and U-23 teams but also has been the vice-captain of the U-16 side. Vaibhav Mali is the other student who has represented Mumbai U-19. Last year Vaibhav had made the record fastest century in just 36 balls in MIPL Cricket Tournament at Bhiwandi.
Karmalkar not only trains the physically abled ones but also offers coaching to the ‘special’ players. Mayuresh Sansare, who is a product of Kwality Sports Club represented the Indian team in 2015 for the five nation physically challenged cricket tournament. Karmalkar’s work is worth the weight in gold.
Recently, Kwality Sports Club celebrated its 13th Annual Day at Dadoji Konddev Stadium and the function was graced by dignitaries like Mayur Kadrekar, Santosh Kudalkar and former Mumbai Ranji team player and senior Advocate Mr. Shaligram. The awards in the form of trophies and certificates were given away to the talented players by Mayuresh Kadrekar and Mr.Shaligram respectively. The camp was attended by 25 trainees in the period between November and May.
Chandrashekhar Karmalkar has truly been a gem of a person and his dedication, devotion and determination towards the development of cricket is simply incredible. Let us hope that he continues with this noble deed with the same enthusiasm and intensity. Cricketgraph.com wishes him all the very best in his future endeavours.
