(PC: World Table Tennis)
By Jaimin Bhatt
A Sharath Kamal, the Indian table tennis legend, announced his retirement as a professional athlete on conclusion of the WTT Star Contender tournament in Chennai.
As the most decorated table tennis player from the country, Sharath is a legend in his sport. A career spanning 23 years in a fast sport is itself a testimony of his grit. He won the Arjuna award in 2004. Other than chess players, none of the awardees up to 2011 are active in sport anymore, except for Saurav Ghosal and Sunil Chhetri, who have both come back from retirement.
Sharath was also the first TT player to be honoured with Padma Shri, in 2019. Consistently among the top 30 in the world, he has a plethora of medals from the Commonwealth and Asian level tournaments.
His final tournament, in his hometown, was going to be emotional. So when Neha from OGQ called me saying that apart from the matches, events had been planned on March 28 and 29 focused on Sharath, I found it too tempting to miss. So, some meetings in Mumbai scheduled for 28th were rescheduled and I landed in Chennai.
Despite the short preparation time, the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium was ready for the tournament. Various agencies — SDAT, UTT, Stupa Sports Analytics, with the support of Indian Oil and Indian Bank — had come together to make it happen. One was also impressed with the knowledgeable crowd, which included several youngsters. However, one would have expected the stands to be full to watch the legend’s farewell.
The tournament had picked up steam and a lot of interest was centered around Sharath. In singles, he expectedly secured a place in the Round of 16. His opponent would be either compatriot Snehit Surajjavula or Japanese Yukiya Uda, who was ranked about 100 places above Snehit. On a day of surprises, Snehit pulled off a great win over the Japanese to set up a clash with Sharath.
Sharath was always known as a quick reader and tactician. One could see that in the doubles quarter-finals, where he and Snehit were up against the second-seeded M&M pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah. He and Snehit pulled off a narrow win to make it to the semi-finals. Suddenly, the buzz was whether Sharath would have second thoughts on retirement. Later in the day though, Sharath and Snehit lost to the third-seeded Korean pair after winning the first game.
Sharath has said that one of the things that kept him going was playing for the Tricolour. Results show that during the last decade or so, India have done so much better in team events. Sharath’s presence, both as a player and as a mentor to the younger players, has been very apparent. And today, there are several youngsters who have taken to TT as a professional sport.
That evening, there was a dinner, where several people including ITTF president Petra Sorling, Kamlesh Mehta from TTFI, India coach Massimo Costantini spoke about Sharath in the presence of Sharath’s family and some players. Sharath spoke briefly about his journey, stating he would leave the emotional bit for the next day.
It was a small gathering and I showed Sharath a collage that was prepared to thank him and he readily signed the same. A personal highlight for me that evening was to meet Indu Puri, who was a leading player during my schooldays in the mid 1970s.
Next morning, the JLN Stadium saw several upsets before the much awaited Round of 16 match featuring Sharath and Snehit started on Table 1. Sharath kept fighting, but it was clear that the match was going Snehit’s way. The crowd rose to cheer for the legend one last time. Snehit kept his celebrations low, considering the occasion.
What followed in the special section was an exhibition match, with African champion Omar Assar. The duo delighted the crowd. There were short talks, including by Omar and Brazilian Hugo Calderano. There were touching moments when Sharath’s family was called into the arena. Sharath thanked several people, including family and friends, who stood by him through the years. He specially thanked Indian Oil, with whom he has been associated with since 2003.
We may not see Sharath on the table going forward. The good thing, however, is that we are likely to see him around the table at least — either as coach or administrator or in some other role. Do not think TT can be taken away from Sharath and vice versa.
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