Cleveland hosted the 18th United States National Carrom championship in which Saravanan Chandrababu retained his singles crown. He won the doubles title, too, in the company of Nilesh Mehta.

The women’s section attracted a record number of entries and Umamaheshwari Munagala emerged the champion as she overcame Nilima 25-2.

Louis Fernandes was a new force and surprised one and all by making it to the men’s final. In the title contest, Saravanan, who learnt his carrom lessons in Chennai, had many anxious moments before he managed to claim his sixth consecutive title.

Sridhar Galipelli and Sekhar Challa claimed the third and fourth spots in the singles competition.

In doubles, 27 pairs including the top four participated. Nilesh Mehta and Saravanan claimed the title after overcoming strong resistance from Atul Kharecha-Sridhar, Shivaram Gowdagere-Subramanian L and Sekhar Challa-Vishal Karangutkar.

The best new player awards went to Louis Fernandes and Umamaheshwari.