East Londoners were given the chance to try out two unusual sports when the East London Commonweath Games kicked off on Saturday.
Passers-by at Spitalfields Market were invited to take part in games of hardcore bicycle polo and the South Asian game of Carrom.
The games were showcased as part of East Festival, which also been celebrated the music, theatre and culture of the local area.
Bicycle polo, a relatively new sport, is played in teams of three cycle-mounted players.
The objective is to hit a small ball into a goal using mallets fashioned from old golf clubs or ski poles with a piece of piping used as the mallet head.
This urban version of a game usually played on horseback relies on excellent cycling control, balance and hand-eye coordination. It can also be quite rough and collisions are commonplace.
One player, Iain Pate, 35, from Hackney, said: “It’s been going for about ten years now and it started in East London when it first came to England and although it has spread all over London, it’s still popular in East London.
“Over the past few years we’ve gone from a handful of players to about a hundred.
“It’s fast, it’s fun, there are crashes and it’s quite spectacular. It’s a great team sport to play.”
Carrom, a more refined game, is similar to snooker, tiddlywinks and air hockey.
Played on a small square table, the objective is to knock as many small discs into pots on the corners of the square with a cue disc, known as a “striker.”
The game is popular across the Indian subcontinent as well as within East London’s Asian community and can be played by two or four players.
It requires controlled flicking skills – and a strong understanding of trigonometry.
Nazrul Islam, President of the UK Carrom Federation, said: “In the UK, it is mainly popular with the Asian community, but we are trying to bring more people into it.”
Sadly the showcase event, a Kabaddi tournament, was cancelled at the last minute due to a sudden bout of food poisoning among competitors. The highly physical team game, traditional in India, was scheduled to be played throughout the afternoon.
Bad news about the Kabaddi tournament. Was really looking forward to that!
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