The 40-year-old pioneer of Indian Olympic table tennis legend had his best season to date, taking home four medals from the Commonwealth Games and earning the Khel Ratna in the process. Paris Olympic fans can buy Olympic Games 2024 Tickets from our website.
In the same year that he turned 40 and had his best season in a long, brilliant career, Achanta Sharath Kamal, a famous figure in Indian table tennis, retired from competition. Later, he won four medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, including his first-ever gold in the mixed doubles tournament.
He began by winning his record-extending eleventh national championship early on. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting distinction in the country, was given to the Padma Shri and Arjuna Awardee as a result of their exploits.
After having such a fantastic year, he is a man full of confidence, and the successes have just increased his already indomitable desire. He is a virtuoso at playing the game and a wonderful orator outside of it. He casually discussed his season, his preparation for the Commonwealth Games, his fitness regimen, and other subjects with Scroll in.
Several quotations from the conversation
How would you characterize the 2022 season?
I wished that the year would never end. This year has been the best I’ve had in terms of performance or the kind of acclaim I’ve gotten for my accomplishments in table tennis. Vice-chair of the IOA Athletes Commission and then co-chair of the ITTF Athletes Commission. Numerous things have happened, especially in the second half of 2022.
The beginning was equally great. I played in the semifinals of a competition with a global ranking and won the Indian National Championships for the eleventh time (WTT Contender, Doha, in March). None of these items are even addressed because they were so little in comparison to what came later.
Several quotations from the conversation
How would you characterise the 2022 season?
I wished that the year would never end. This year has been the best I’ve had in terms of performance or the kind of acclaim I’ve gotten for my accomplishments in table tennis. Vice-chair of the IOA Athletes Commission and then co-chair of the ITTF Athletes Commission. Numerous things have happened, especially in the second half of 2022.
The beginning was equally great. I played in the semifinals of a competition with a global ranking and won the Indian National Championships for the eleventh time (WTT Contender, Doha, in March). None of these items are significant since they were relatively unimportant in comparison to what came later even mentioned.
Prior to the Olympic Games, I thought 2021 was my best year. How well and at what level I competed against Olympic gold medalist Ma Long is still a topic of discussion. I think it will also be spoken about in the future because of how I played, how I behaved, and how well I played table tennis.
That was outstanding and of the highest caliber. Sincerely, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue performing at that level in 2022, but the results have already surpassed 2021. There isn’t much I can genuinely hope will change from how things have been. Paris Olympic 2024 fans can buy Paris Olympic 2024 Tickets from our website.
You had never won a gold medal in mixed doubles, which was awarded at the CWG.
Do you remember the circumstances that led to Sreeja Akula and you being awarded that medal?
Going into the tournament, I had no idea what to expect. I once played with Sreeja’s coach, Somnath Ghosh; nowadays, all coaches are men I’ve played with at some point. It simply goes to show how resilient I am, I guess.
We have been friends for close to 25 to 30 years and have played together. Sreeja had won the national tournament, so we knew she would be on the squad. After the nationals, he asked me, “Would it be possible for you to play with Sreeja, if you don’t mind?”
I reacted, “Yes, let’s play,” to her.
We took part in some fruitful training sessions in Hyderabad. Sreeja had very high standards. She was anxious to prevent any mistakes since she felt that it would be her fault if we lost.
In mixed doubles, the guys can easily create scenarios in which they can score. However, the boys have it tough if the girls don’t succeed. But during the competition, she truly shone. I frequently had the impression that I needed to keep explaining to her how to respond if the ball was played in a certain way the following time. By the time I got the thought, she had actually taken care of it.
Olympics 2020
She persisted in giving me courage. In the preliminary rounds, I was doing well. After the quarterfinal, things got tough for me, but she really stepped up.
You earlier remarked that, aside from showing intent during the Ma Long match in the Tokyo Olympics, you didn’t do anything particularly noteworthy. Did that start to act as a yardstick for you, showcasing your skills and motivating you to continue producing high-quality work?
Indeed, it did. I had a lot of time to prepare for the Olympics. It was initially slated for 2020, however, due to the Covid interruption, the date was later altered to 2021. My only education came from India.
I usually traveled to Europe or Asia to train with the top athletes till 2020. Naturally, I had to make certain changes in India to promote that sort of foreign environment. I gained a lot of confidence from the way I trained for the Olympics, but also.
I knew what I wanted to do this month and the month after. The goal period was every six to nine months, and a block was every three months. Of course, I’ve done a lot of practice self-analysis and trying to figure out who I am.
Four months before the Games, I started training for Rio, but I thought it was too soon for my body and mind.
I demand that a session start at least five months in advance. And the difference only widens as people get older.
But I was left with nothing to do except prepare for Tokyo for the next nine months. I altered the significant measurements. Your schedule changed because you weren’t traveling as much. The diet and exercise were both under control because there weren’t any other noteworthy occurrences or preparation-related interruptions.
What were some of the lessons you took back to Birmingham from Tokyo?
There is no doubt that it was a challenging moment for everyone. In the midst of the pandemic, things were difficult. The opinions changed. For instance, they said, “Are you crazy?,” when I asked for permission to train at a stadium.
You want to practice when folks are outside passing away. It helped put the situation into perspective.
You didn’t have to practice because the priorities were different and nobody cared. Priority one was containing the outbreak and saving lives. I had to look out for myself at that time. You were not aware of what the infection might do. We had to keep training even if we were afraid. It was a difficult situation.
But in my opinion, Team India’s participation in the Olympics was the best thing that could have happened to us. After escaping the situation we were in April and May, we arrived in Tokyo. Following that, everything went smoothly.
That is a very important lesson I learned. You have to be in that mental state to perform properly, therefore I had to adopt a more upbeat approach. Since a lot of things happened in the run-up to these Commonwealth Games, I learned a lot from the Tokyo Olympics preparation.
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