Husna Sameera, a sixteen-year-old girl from Hyderabad who created a Guinness record along with 22-year-old Allada Pavan for the "longest carrom playing marathon", was felicitated for her achievement at the Press Club of Hyderabad on Saturday.
"I wish to be the world’s youngest champion," she said while speaking at the function, reported The Hans India.
While the game was played at Vijayawada on December 26 and 27, 2016, she got the official certificate and a letter of appreciation earlier this week, The Times of India reported.
"I started playing when I was in Class V. My father introduced me to carrom. My paternal uncle was my first coach. Since then, I have been regularly playing the game," Sameera told the paper.
The teenager hails from a family of carrom players and so it was only natural for her to take to the game. "My uncle is a national player and an international referee. Even my father was keen in the game. Therefore, unlike other games such as Tennis or Cricket, I chose to learn carrom," she added.
Sameera and Pavan had created the record by playing the game for 34 hrs 45 mins and 56 secs. In doing so, they broke the earlier record of 32 hours and 45 seconds which had been set by Narayan Paranjpe, Atul Kharecha, Prakash Kagal and Pramod Sen in 2005 in the United States.
Prior to the Guinness record, Sameera also had made a world record for playing carrom non-stop for 18 hours, 18 minutes and 18 seconds in Vizag in 2014.
In 2015, she attempted to break her own record by playing carrom non-stop for 20 hours, with 20 opponents against her. She succeeded in creating a new record.
"I increased the number of hours I played gradually. Before attempting records, I used to play for 34 hours for 12 consecutive Saturdays. That is how I improved," she told TOI.
Speaking to The Hindu at the time, Sameera talked about her dream of becoming a world champion someday.
"I want to be different from the rest by not just competing and winning titles. I am inspired by so many champions from the State, especially Hyderabad in carrom. No doubt, my dream is to be a world champion one day," she said.
A second year intermediate student of the Sri Gayatri Junior College in Chaitanyapuri, Sameera is the recipient of the Telangana Bala Ratna and has also won awards in calligraphy and speed mathematics, The Hindu report states.
However, at Saturday's event, Sameera said that her immediate focus is academics and "preparing for the annual examinations that are round the corner.”