23 year old Hilmy Shaheed is currently ranked number one in Sri Lanka and number 5even in the World in men’s carrom.
Shaheed was born ON 17th of January in 1997 in Colombo. He was admitted to Royal College Colombo 7 in 2002. He started to play Carrom when he was in grade 9 in 2010. He participated in an inter house Carrom tournament in 2010 and performed well. So his coach Lasantha Ranatunga called him for regular practices in the school.
After some time he got selected to schools under 15 Carrom team and they won the western province schools Carrom championship in 2010. He played the singles event in that tournament.
Altogether Royal College won six titles in Western Province School Carrom Championship from 2010 to 2015. Hilmy was adjudged “Best Player “ in Western province school Carrom Championship in 2014. Royal College won the All Island school Carrom Championship title for the first time in 2012. Royal College was runners up four times in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. He was adjudged BEST PLAYER in the All island schools Carrom Championship in 2015.
Shaheed won the Royal College colours in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He won the Western Province School Colours in 2010,2011, 2012 and 2015. He won Milo all-island school colours in 2012. Shaheed was awarded the “ROYAL CROWN”, the biggest award for sports in Royal College, at the 2014 colours nite. He was captain of the college under 19 Carrom team in 2014.
Hilmy Shaheed emerged Singles champion in the Junior National Carrom Championship in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Also he emerged champion six times in Doubles in the Junior National Carrom Championship in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Shaheed represented the winning Royal team in the ‘’Royal - Thomian’ Carrom encounter during the period 2010 to 2015.
Shaheed represented the Sri Lanka National Carrom team in many events. He played for the Sri Lanka team in the Indo - Lanka junior Carrom test series in 2013. 17 year old Shaheed represented the runner up Sri Lanka team in the 4th Carrom World Cup at Maldives in 2014.
Schoolboy Hilmy Shaheed represented the World Champion Sri Lanka team in the 7th World Carrom Championship in 2016 in England. Sri Lanka emerged team champions, Shaheed was runner up in the men’s doubles and placed seventh in the men’s Singles in the World
Shaheed Hilmy represented the World Champion Sri Lanka team in the 5th Carrom World Cup in South Korea in 2018. Shaheed was placed seventh in Singles. He represented Sri Lanka National Carrom team who finished runner up in the 8th ICF Cup Carrom Championship in 2019 in India. Sri Lanka team was runner up and Shaheed was placed seventh in the World.
He won the men’s Doubles in the Federation Cup Carrom Championship in 2015. Shaheed was a member of the Most Outstanding Men’s team of the year in Presidential Sports Awards in 2016 and 2018.
He emerged champion in the men’s Singles in the Grandslam Carrom Championship in 2018. He emerged men’s Singles champion in the 30th Federation Cup Carrom championship in 2018. He was the winner of men’s Singles in the 51st Senior National Carrom championship in 2019.
Hilmy was the winner of Singles in the President Cup Carrom Championship in 2013 2014. and 2019.
Hilmy was a member of the champion Western province team in the National Sports Festivals in 2016, 2017 and 2019. He emerged men’s doubles champion in the National Sports Festivals in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
“I am grateful to my coach . Lasantha Ranatunga and our team members and senior players in our Carrom team who helped me a lot to improve my game and supported me throughout my journey so far” said Hilmy. (Y.K.)
